Olympic gold medallist and world heavyweight champion in the same calendar year — that’s promoter Dean Lonergan’s vision for Justis Huni.
The plan to fast track the heavyweight prospect continued to gain speed on Thursday night with a fourth-round stoppage victory over Arsene Fosso in the first defence of his national title.
In a great advertisement for Huni, the Brisbane-native landed clean uppercuts, vicious body shots and showcased his superior boxing skills before referee Phil Austin halted the contest.
Huni suffered a bloodied nose early in the bout but always looked in control.
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His shot selection again impressed, especially for a 21-year-old in his second pro fight.
He looked every bit the fun heavyweight Australian fight fans can follow for the next decade, and Huni still intends to compete at the Olympics in 2021 despite turning pro.
Constitutional change ahead of the Rio Olympics in 2016 granted professional boxers entry to the games for the first time.
By and large, pro boxers stayed away, many fearing their marketability would be impacted should they suffer defeat to an amateur.
However, Lonergan believes Huni’s magnetism will only be enhanced by the experience.
“I see it as an absolutely massive opportunity,” Lonergan said.
“I see that as an acceleration of his fame levels because all Australian sports media will be assembled at those games and by that stage, the Justis Huni train will be up and running and every available sports journalist will go to every single fight that he has in those games because he’s a red hot gold medal prospect.
“I see it as nothing but positive.”
Before the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics in August 2021, Huni has a four-pro-fight plan that includes some top domestic competition.
Huni will fight again in Townsville in February against another Australian-based boxer with a winning record.
Following that bout, the path in principle is to fight Herman Ene-Purcell in March, former world title challenger Alex Leapai in May and former belt holder Lucas Browne in July.
The Browne fight is signed, with Sydney a possible venue. The other three fights will all take place in Queensland.
Leapai told the ABC he hadn’t officially signed but he’s “up for the challenge”.
Huni will fight for some regional straps within his next two fights to catapult him up the rankings with the sanctioning bodies.
‘We want to create history’
Should he navigate the roadmap ahead, he’ll be knocking on the door of the top 10 heavyweights when he heads to Tokyo for the Olympics.
“We want to create history. There’s nothing more history-making than winning an Olympic gold medal and a world title in the same year,” Lonergan said.
“And that’s exactly how the Hunis want it. Both Rocki [father and trainer] and Justis, they want to have a lot of fights, they want to have meaningful fights, they want to have competitive fights and they want to make history.”
Lonergan promoted the career of Jeff Horn and is responsible for bringing the legendary Manny Pacquiao to Australia. He’s thinking big again for Huni.
“Can Justis fight for the heavyweight title here? The answer is 100 per cent yes,” he said.
Horn attended the fight night but hasn’t decided on his future. It’s widely predicted he will retire after being stopped by Tim Tszyu.
Horn’s place in Australian sporting history is well secured, but Lonergan’s immediate promoting future was uncertain after his star client’s loss in August.
He since secured Huni’s highly sought after signature, despite rival interest from promoter Eddie Hearn and the UFC’s Dana White.
In the co-main event, Huni’s promotional stablemate Issac Hardman (8-0) continued his breakout year, outpointing Tej Singh to win a majority decision in the toughest fight of his career.
The middleweight trash talker has a mixed martial arts background, engaging personality and arguably the finest alias in world boxing.
“Issac ‘The Head Splitter’ Hardman is, without doubt, the best media performer I’ve ever seen at this stage of his career,” Lonergan explained.
Lonergan stopped short of saying Horn wouldn’t fight again.
“What he does going forward I’m not quite sure. For me personally, I’d like to see him to do something else. But if the fire burns for Jeff and he wants to go again, good luck to him,” he said.
“He’s just got to make sure that if he does go again, he trains as hard as he can possibly train, because when he does that, he’s hard to beat.
“He is responsible for this resurgence in Australian boxing. He laid the platform for all these other guys.”
