Undefeated Australian heavyweight Justis Huni 5-0 (4) returns to the ring on Wednesday night after a year-long layoff when he takes on Joseph Goodall 8-0-1 (7) at the Nissan Arena in Brisbane, Australia.
The 23-year-old suffered a hand injury in his last bout, a 10th round knockout victory over former NRL hardman Paul Gallen 12-2-1 (7). The injury nixed his plan of representing Australia at the Tokyo Olympics. Two bouts of Covid followed, further delaying his return to the ring.
And in the latest setback, his home was shot up in the early hours of Thursday morning. Police are still searching for suspects and trying to find a motive.
But even these circumstances couldn’t stop Huni from getting back in the ring. He sparred former WBA ‘regular’ heavyweight champion Lucas ‘Big Daddy’ Browne 31-3 (27) the day of the drive-by shooting.
“It’s just good to be back and do what I love under the bright lights. It’s been a roller coaster,” Huni told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“But at the same time it was good to have a break, I made the most of it, got rid of some injuries, went back to training as fast as I could.
“It’s been a long time but it’s just good to be back… there is no better feeling. I’m very grateful.”
Huni has impressed observers with his fluidity, combinations and footwork since turning pro. If there is one knock on him, it’s his modest power. That, he says, is something he has been working on.
“I’ve been doing a lot of work with sitting down on my punches and projecting more power into my punches. We will see,” Huni said.
While Huni chose to hold his camp in Australia, Goodall travelled to Las Vegas for his where he worked with well-known New Zealand coach Kevin Barry.
The pair watch the undisputed lightweight world title fight between George Kambosos Jr and Devin Haney together last weekend and took some lessons from the Australian’s loss.
“It was important for [Goodall] to watch that fight on Sunday where you can see somebody with a lot of firepower and heart like Kambosos was completely shut down by the speed and IQ of Haney,” Barry told foxsports.com.au.
“That is the perfect example that we can’t allow, we can’t let Huni dictate things with his handspeed.”
“This is all the gold in Australian boxing,” Goodall said to the Sydney Morning Herald. “We’ve had a great relationship over the years, sparred on and off, helped each other at international tournaments, so there is respect there. But we put that aside, it’s business first.
“There is only one champion and you have to climb the ladder. He thinks he’s the best in Australia, I think I’m the best. We’re going to find out.”
