He is Australia’s youngest national heavyweight champion in more than a century and was one of the first Australians to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, but Justis Huni says he’s “just a hardworking boxer”.
Key points:
- Justis Huni will seek to defend his national heavyweight title when he fights Arsene Fosso in Brisbane
- He won the title by beating Faiga Opelu in his pro debut in late October
- With professional boxers now allowed in the Olympics, Huni is building towards a shot at a medal in Tokyo
“I just want to make it somewhere in the sport,” Huni said before the first defence of his national title against Arsene Fosso in Brisbane on Thursday night.
His father and trainer, Rocki, speaks with immense pride when describing his son as “a dedicated young man who knows what he wants and he’s determined to get it”.
And then there’s promoter Dean Lonergan, the man responsible for mapping the career of former world champion Jeff Horn.
“If [Huni] fulfils his potential, [he will be] the most famous Australian athlete of all time,” Lonergan said.
“I don’t care what anyone says. If you become the heavyweight champion of the world in this country, no-one is going to come close to him.”
At just 21, Huni is still developing, but on pro debut he won the Australian heavyweight title while showing an incredibly high boxing IQ with his adroit shot selection.
The former champion, Faiga Opelu, did not come out of the corner to contest the eighth round.
If you’re being hypercritical, the knock on Huni’s first outing as a pro was the absence of devastating punching power. He had the chance to land clean shots on multiple occasions but couldn’t end the fight.
Huni knows he has to “sit on [his] punches” more in the pros.
“I know when I’m there [at training], I’ve got the focus pads on, he hits hard,” Rocki explained.
Regardless, at this stage of his career, it was an impressive first outing.
Huni honed in home gym
Huni started boxing at just six years old. By the time he was 11, he gave up playing rugby league in Brisbane’s southern suburbs to focus on the fight game.
By the time he was 15, Huni dropped out of school to focus on boxing.
Two years later he won gold at the youth world championships and three years after that he qualified for the Olympics.
In a familiar boxing story, Huni’s journey is a family affair. His dad is his trainer, and older brother Lopete has been his inspiration, following his path from footy to the sweet science.
Huni has lived in the same house his entire life, in Sunnybank Hills, 20 kilometres from Brisbane’s CBD.
The family home is also Huni’s gym.
“We’ve always had a [heavy] bag up, we’ve had gym equipment there, that’s where he started from,” Rocki said.
“[Justis] lives at home because he finds he focuses more there. That’s where I want him to stay as well because it makes it easier for both of us, being just downstairs.”
The father and son have 11 sessions a week, and they begin with a wake-up call from Dad.
The early morning sessions are always fitness-based, a combination of roadwork, sprints and shadow boxing.
“Afternoons we train again at 4:00pm, focus all on boxing,” he said.
“He spars during the week or on the weekend. We get the video, we analyse the video and we focus on correcting it.”
Heavyweight is a glamour weight class again
It’s a good time to be an emerging heavyweight, with the division filled with engaging stars and colourful contenders.
Despite being a glamour weight class, there’s often one dominant figure reigning over the division, like Joe Louis or early Mike Tyson. In addition, they can often have a dry style or be uncharismatic, like Larry Holmes or the Klitschko brothers.
Currently, Tyson Fury sits atop the heavyweight division and is arguably boxing’s most interesting character.
His compatriot, Anthony Joshua, is a global superstar and holds three alphabet titles.
And then there’s Deontay Wilder, the division’s biggest puncher, perhaps ever.
“These are all massive names globally now and Justis Huni in the very near future will be mentioned in the same vein and mentioned in the same ring,” Lonergan said.
These conversations include a personal phone call between Lonergan and famed promoter Bob Arum — who deals with Fury stateside — to put Huni on his radar.
Lonergan hopes Huni could be fighting for a world title within two years, with plans to fast track his development in full swing.
Huni is likely to fight six times as a pro before next year’s rescheduled Tokyo Olympics start in July.
“My main focus is the Olympics,” Huni said.
“Having these pro fights was just so I could stay active and stay busy in the ring. I went this whole year not knowing what was going on, I didn’t have a clue when I was fighting next.
“He’s [Lonergan] made all of this happen. [The] Australian title on debut was pretty crazy, made history. Everything is just falling into place for me and all the hard work I’ve put in is slowly paying off.”
Despite a change ahead of the Rio Olympics to allow professionals to compete, most boxers choose not to do so. Many fear how a loss in the amateurs may affect a fighter’s marketability in the pros.
It’s something that doesn’t seem to concern Lonergan.
“He’s a red-hot gold medal prospect. I see it as nothing but a positive,” Lonergan said.
“If he gets beat, we’ll shrug our shoulders and move on, but my gut feel is he’ll go there and not only win, but he’ll be knocking blokes out.”
