Joe Johnson Beat Steve Davis in 1986 World Final
Joe Johnson beat steve davis in the 1986 world championship final as a 150-1 outsider, then found himself holding the sport’s biggest title after years of scraping to make a living. The victory brought £70,000 and turned a former gas board and factory worker into world snooker champion at 73.
Johnson And Steve Davis
Johnson said the win still felt unreal four decades on. “I couldn’t get my breath because I expected Steve to beat me. He was a different player to the Steve I had always beaten as an amateur. He had already been world champion three times. So when I beat him, and won £70,000, which was a huge amount of money then, it really was a beautiful dream.”
He also recalled the immediate shock of the result: “I was thinking: ‘Is it really me?’” That reaction fit the scale of the upset. Davis arrived with three world titles already on his record, while Johnson had never previously won a game at the Crucible before that tournament began.
From 1979 To The Crucible
Johnson turned professional in 1979 when he was already 27. He had reached the World Amateur Championship final a year before that, but the early professional years were lean. “I was signing on in 1982,” he said, and added that when he started, “there were only two professional events – the worlds and UK championship. If you lost early there was nothing to feed a family.”
That struggle showed on the Crucible stage before 1986. He was crushed 10-1 by Dennis Taylor in the first round of the 1984 world championship, then lost 10-8 to Bill Werbeniuk in the first round in 1985. Johnson said Werbeniuk’s routine was as difficult to miss as the scoreline: “It was a confidence-builder for Bill and of course he drank a lot. He had six pints before we started and then a pint during every frame.” He added, “It’s true. I’m not exaggerating.”
What Came After 1986
The title did not become the start of a long run of trophies. Johnson reached the world championship final again the following year, and Davis avenged the 1986 defeat in that match. Johnson never won another ranking tournament, even though he later sold the large house he bought after winning the worlds and became the lead singer for the band Made In Japan.
He also lived through seven heart attacks, and at 73 he was back at the current world championships as a commentator. For Johnson, the 1986 final remains the one result that changed everything, and it still reads like the sort of scoreline that should have belonged to someone else.
