By Ray Wheatley – World of Boxing
WBO #14 heavyweight Justis Huni (7-0, 4 KOs) will be in action when he travels to the USA to clash with Andrew Tabiti (20-1, 16 KOs) over ten rounds on the undercard of WBC super lightweight champion Regis Prograis vs. Danielto Zorrillo at the Smoothie King Centre, New Orleans and televised on DAZN. Huni was last in action outpointing Kiki Toa Leutele last November and Tabiti was last seen stopping James Wilson in five rounds last August.
Haven’t seen Tabiti since his out-of-body experience with Dorticos 3-4 years ago, but according to Boxrec, he’s 3-0 (3 KOs) since. Not a bad opponent for Huni at this stage of his career I suppose.
I saw Tabiti last year on the prelims for Usyk – Joshua 2, fought a crude guy who was a kickboxer. The only name on Huni’s record that I’m sure I recognize is Paul Gallen. To go from fighting guys like that to Tabiti — at least on paper — should be a pretty big step up for Huni, despite the fact that he’s likely to have a pretty big size advantage, but we’ll see how he does.
What was his out of body experience with Dorticos? With the exception of Holyfield and Usyk, Cruiserweights moving up to heavies is rarely sucessfull. You would think bringing the skill set from a lighter weight would be a huge plus but it rarely is.
@Kris It was just an exaggerated (maybe) way of saying Tabiti was brutally knocked out against Dorticos. They both threw right hands at the same time, and the forward momentum from both fighters just amplified the right hand that knocked Tabiti out. Reminded me of Shane Cameron’s KO of Monte Barrett.
I’m not really expecting Tabiti to be too successful at Heavyweight either, but it feels like he’s exactly the right opponent for Huni at this stage of his career. Not familiar with all of Huni’s previous opponents, but I’m
guessing Tabiti will bring more speed and boxing ability than Huni has seen to date in his Pro career, and he probably shouldn’t be overly dangerous. On top of that, Tabiti brings a little name recognition.
Tabiti was 216 in his last outing.
Yeah, I went back and saw it on Youtube. Brutal no doubt. Cruiserweight division has always been full of guys that both physically and on paper look like they could set the world on fire, but end up just smoldering. Like that Lawrence Okolie guy. Sounds like turned in a ridiculous performance the other night.
“With the exception of Holyfield and Usyk, Cruiserweights moving up to heavies is rarely sucessfull.”
This is true. I know it’s not at all a popular idea, but that would be a reason why I’m open to the Bridgerweight division. Would be nice if someone with influence outside the Alphabet Groups could evaluate that and decide whether it’s necessary or not. They could do the same for a lot of these Jr. weight classes while they’re at it…
David Haye ended up winning a title. How strange is it that a former cruiserweight champion literally beats the biggest heavyweight champion of all time. Though, admittedly, Valuev wasn’t very good.
I agree about the cruiserweight division. Simply in terms of athletes, just looking at them, cruiserweight probably produces THE most impressive in the entire sport and I can think back to guys like Lateef Kayode (who boxrec says is about to have his first fight in five years) up to someone like you just mentioned in Okolie. You look at them and say they’re one of the last people on the planet you’d want to get into a fight with, but the performance, at the highest levels, can’t match the physique. Okolie… that guy has no inside game whatsoever. If you get past his jab he grabs you.
David Haye. I knew there was someone else besides Usyk & Holyfield, but it wasn’t coming to me. That was Valuev’s last fight I believe.
RJJ is another one who started as a Middleweight, fought mainly as a LH; campaigned as a Cruiser, and won a HW title against John Ruiz, although did not do much in the Heavyweights.
Tai, RJJ actually started his career at 154 I believe. I believe Cruiser came last for him. He went from 175 to Heavyweight, back to 175 to fight Tarver and a few others, then Cruiser. He should have never went back to 175 after Ruiz.
Kris, I remember seeing Fields blow away Kelvin Davis in the first round. He lost to Ola Afolabi shortly after that, and that’s about all I remember of him.
Oh yeah, Forgot about David Haye. I think Chris Byrd started his career as a Cruiser, but pretty much fought his entire relavant career as a heavy. Of course Micheal Spinks jumped from light heavy to heavy, skipping the the Cruisers altogether. James Toney was just kind of a middleweight who got fat and did pretty well as a heavyweight. I wouldn’t really categorize him as a cruiserweight who made a successful jump to heavyweight…Do you remember a Cruiserweight a few years back named Eric Fields from Oklahoma? Coming up, he looked unstoppable. Problem was, he would gas out after 3 rounds. I think he had asthma or some kind of medical condition that forced him to retire.
Yes, Lateef Kayode is a perfect example of what I’m talking about.
Don’t forget Michael Moorer.
Tahiti will stop him.
I’d like to know how Huni is ranked 14 in the WBO , when he’s fought a retired footballer,a beefed up cruiserweight, and a couple of punching bags along the way. 6 fights against unranked fighters and ranked14
Doesn’t add up
After 8 fights his opponents win loss record of 60/5 is probably where the ranking comes from. Lets face it Zerafa has a number one ranking fighting complete bums in his last 5 fights so anything is possible.
All these extra divisions did nothing except create more “champions” with additional sanctioning fees. Also drove away fans who couldn’t keep up or care about the many meaningless belts. In the days of eight divisions most US sports fans knew all the champions at least in the divisions from featherweight on up and a championship fight was a major sporting event.