Justis Huni has replaced Jarrell Miller in Fabio Wardley’s homecoming interim title fight this Saturday.
Justis Huni turned 12-0 at the start of the year after the latest in a series of second-round knockouts.
Huni finished his last three opponents in the same way, after defeating Kevin Lerena, who dropped Daniel Dubois, in a unanimous decision in early 2024.
After a scare against Lerena, Huni and his team believe he is now ready for another step-up, this time against Fabio Wardley, who destroyed Frazer Clarke last time out.
Huni, who has a stellar amateur background, will be no walkover, as the Aussie has dealt with far scarier moments than those Wardley will bring.
Justis Huni headed to sparring after being targeted in a drive-by shooting
On the 8th of June, 2022, Huni, who beat Faiga Opelu in his debut, slept in a building with nine others, including two young children.
At 4AM, that building was targeted by gunmen, who shot nine times before driving away in their vehicle.
Whilst Huni, who KO’d Paul Gallen, and the others got out of the incident unscathed, many were, rightfully, shaken up, but the Aussie heavyweight didn’t let this stop him from attending his sparring session, as he told The Ring:
“It was like, gunshots fired at my house, then all of a sudden I had police and TV crews at the front of my house all morning. But I had sparring that morning. […] I just looked straight past the news crews and just went to sparring. Got my sparring done and then came back home to so much news and reporters at the house.”
Huni, who could face Moses Itauma one day, was just one week out from the biggest fight of his career as he was set to face 8-0-1 Joseph Goodall, who he beat in a lopsided unanimous decision.
Nobody was ever arrested for the shooting.
Justis Huni vs Fabio Wardley – The statistics
Professional record
Wardley: 18-0-1 (17 KOs) | Huni: 12-0 (7 KOs)
Amateur record
Wardley: 0-0-0. He did have four white-collar bouts, though, which he won.
Huni: 35-2. He won bronze at the 2019 World Championships.
Height, weight, reach, age
Wardley is 6’5″, weighed 241.5 pounds in his last fight, has a reach of 78 inches, and is 30 years old.
Huni is 6’4″, weighed 241.5 pounds in his last fight, has a reach of 76.4 inches, and is 26 years old.