Unexpected snooker champion
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Joe Johnson had been playing snooker professionally for seven years with little success. Entering the 1986 World Snooker Championship, he had previously won only two televised matches, which happened the year before. Thus, the odds put him at 150-1 of winning the tournament.
Joe would defy expectations and win five matches to win the championship, beating the number one player in the world, Steve Davis, in the finals. He would struggle the following season but still make it to the 1987 World Snooker Championship final to prove he was no fluke.
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Quotes
That was really encouraging for me - I had never beaten him before so to have beaten him in the quarter-final of the World Championship, making all those big breaks reinforced my view that I could win.
Joe Johnson
The year after I won I just kept thinking to myself, 'Was I a bit lucky?', so I was delighted to have got to the final again. It was probably more proud to reach the final the second year.
Joe Johnson
References
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Leicester City win Premier League: The greatest sporting story?
Despite that undistinguished track record and the pain from a cyst on his back that first brought a halt to his quarter-final and then actually burst in his semi-final, he fought through to meet world number one Steve Davis, held a 13-12 lead going into the fourth session, and then won five of the next six to become, at 150-1, the biggest outsider to ever win the world title.
The Guardian
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Joe Johnson: The man who stunned the Crucible
After beating Steve Davis 18-12, Johnson became the only player to win the Snooker World Championship having never previously won another ranking event.
ESPN
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1986: Johnson stuns snooker world
Johnson, the world no.16 when the championship began, was quoted at 150-1 for the title, not unduly generous odds given that he had failed to win a tournament in seven years as a professional.
The Guardian
