By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing
Unbeaten Australian heavyweight Justis Huni (7-0,4 KOs) went toe-to-toe against Kiki Toa Leutele (8-2-2, 7 KOs) over ten action rounds to be awarded a unanimous decision on Friday at the Nissan Arena, Nathan, Queensland, Australia, televised on Foxtel. Huni connected with power head and body shots consistently on his opponent but at no time during the bout did Leutele look in danger of visiting the canvas. Leutele came to fight and never took a backward step as he delivered bombs on Huni. The Australian was the busier and more accurate with his blows, but the New Zealander was the heavier puncher. At the conclusion, scores were all for Huni – Steve Marshall 99-91, Phil Gregory 97-93, Allan Burford 98-92.
Huni said afterward, “Leutele came to fight and he was very well prepared and he came to knock me out. Not only is he a very big puncher but he can take a very big punch as well. Thank you to Kiki and his team Peach Boxing and thank you for coming over.
“My hands feel the same as when I boxed Paul Gallen. We will take care of it straight away and we’ll get back out there as quickly as possible. Leutele came to fight and we knew that, especially after what he did against our number one heavyweight Demsey McKean. He is a very tough competitor.
“Thank you to everyone who came out to support me because without you this wouldn’t be possible.”
Huni had more power in his punches tonight and instead of throwing 4-5 punches he was throwing 2-3 heavy punches. Jab also a lot stronger than in previous fights. Gutsy the way he fought on with busted hand. Still think he wore too many shots from Leutele, although Huni was in shape and took them well. Leutele should land some decent undercard work with his effort tonight, strong guy.
There seems to be a philosophy in boxing that ” you gotta take a hit to deliver your own” which is so wrong! Haney, Mayweather, don’t get hit often , masters of defence and attack ,perfect boxing. Maybe boring to some, but as someone said,”the art of boxing is to hit and not be hit
McKean in 2!
McKean is an accident waiting to happen
Huni’s record shows a number of tko’s and ko’s when in fact most never touched the canvas and fights were waived off with opponents on there feet. Despite the much heralded increase in power and intent, Leutele never looked like being dropped at all and in fact Huni touched the canvas after being off balance from a flush left hook.
His mobility and speed is amazing for a big guy and also showed a pretty good chin. The fact remains he lacks legitimate power for the heavyweight division and also gets hit far too much.
Be interesting to see him with a top 20 opponent.
Agree, although the fights that were TKO’s – the opponents were getting pasted.
His team seem to be working on his power and taking him away from his amateur boxing style – they’ve said it will take a few fights to get there.
If you look at who his team are looking to get him in the ring with – efe ajagba, agit kabayel, Zhang zillei, kossobutskiy – all are around the 20 fight mark with very few losses. Once his hand is healed questions will soon be answered, but can’t fault the path he is
Taking.