Who is Justis Huni?

This Saturday will see Australian boxer Justis Huni, 12-0 (7), travel all the way to Ipswich to face Fabio Wardley, 18-0-1 (17).

As a visitor to UK shores, Huni will find the odds are against him. Living in Brisbane, Australia, the 6’4” heavyweight is coming into a fight where he can lose little or gain a lot.

The most-impressive thing about Huni so far has been his amateur record – a gold medal at the Youth World Championships in Saint Petersburg in 2016, followed by a bronze in the world championships three years later in Yekaterinburg.

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It was after that last amateur triumph that Huni turned over to the professional game.

He turned professional in his hometown in 2020, stopping Faiga Opelu in seven rounds. Interestingly, Huni’s debut was for the Australian heavyweight championship. After winning that title, he defended it against Arsene Fosso (won by stoppage in four), Christian Ndzie Tsoye (points over ten), and Paul Gallen (stoppage in ten).

Since then, Huni has held a bunch of regional – if slightly meaningless – titles, all of which he defended against Joseph Goodall and Kiki Toa Leutele in 2022.

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At around 241lbs for each of his fights, Huni also brings with him some impressive bulk – and he can box and punch, too, his record obscuring the power he carries.

In terms of names on that record, well, it is a little thin. After his win over Leutele in 2022, Huni travelled to Mexico to take a decision over Andrew Tabiti, then 20-1 (16).

He followed that by going to Riyadh around four months later, beating Kevin Lerena, then 30-2 (14), on points over ten rounds. (Lerena, readers may recall, had gone hell for leather against Daniel Dubois two years earlier, being stopped in the third round after putting down Dubois thrice in the opener).

Huni proved he had a good chin in the fight against Lerena, avoiding being knocked down in the final round to pick up a 96-94, 96-94, 98-92 decision.

There were three more fights in Australia following the Lerena fight against ‘limited’ opposition: Troy Pilcher, 9-0-1 (7); Leandro Daniel Robutti, 11-6-0 (8); and Shaun Potgieter, 10-1-0 (7).

Still undefeated, Huni now looks ahead to this weekend at Portman Road in Ipswich.

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