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Fabio Wardley delivered a stunning right-hand punch, sending Australian boxer Justis Huni to the floor on Saturday night, impressing 20,000 spectators at Portman Road.
The 26-year-old from Queensland had dominated much of the bout and was leading on the scorecards. However, during the 10th round, he seemed to overextend his right arm, giving Wardley the opening to land a powerful right hook to Huni’s temple.
This decisive blow brought Huni down and marked the end of his unbeaten record, with Wardley clinching victory and possibly paving the way for a matchup against the winner of Daniel Dubois versus Oleksandr Usyk.
They claim English referee John Latham had not given the Aussie fighter a proper 10 count.
Mr Latham had appeared to stoop down to Huni, who lay with his back to the floor, and began to issue the count. The referee then called the fight before he reached 10 seconds.
Justis Huni (left) suffered a brutal defeat by Fabio Wardley on Saturday night at Portman Road
Huni (left) was knocked out in the 10th round by Wardley, who had struggled to take a foothold during the bout
Huni’s management believed their fighter (right) was not given a full count by John Latham (second from right)
Huni’s manager, Mick Francis, vented his frustrations after the bout and revealed he had even voiced his complaints to Eddie Hearnm, adding he’d be issuing a complaint to the WBA immediately.
He told the Matchroom promoter: ‘You haven’t heard the last of this.’
Francis added: ‘He just waved it off.
‘I’m lodging a protest with the WBA.
‘I’ve already spoken to Eddie Hearn and Spencer (Brown) and they agreed.
‘It’s a f***ing world title, not some fight in the park.
‘And they didn’t give Justis Huni the correct opportunity.’
He noted that while Huni had been hit by a good shot in the 10th round, Francis believed he hadn’t been given a fair chance to continue.
Huni’s manager had been furious claiming that he ‘was not wobbly when he got to his feet’ adding that he had been ‘putting on a boxing clinic’ against Wardley
Huni (right) had led the judges scorecards prior to the 10th round of the fight and could have upset the odds against the British home favourite
‘Justis wasn’t wobbly when he got to his feet.
‘Yes, he got hit with a good shot.
‘And if he’d had enough, fair enough.
‘But Justis was putting on a boxing clinic.
‘They were looking for any opportunity to give this fight to Wardley.’
Despite the loss, Huni had produced an excellent performance to keep Wardley quiet for most of the fight, which he had only accepted five weeks ago.
Scorecards had shown that the Australian was up 89-82 on two of the judges’ cards, while the third had given him the fight 88-83 after 10 rounds.
Huni, though, wasn’t letting the agonising defeat get to him after the fight.
Wardley (pictured) would go on to win the fight but paid credit to Huni, lauding him for his brilliance throughout the fight
The Aussie star, whose record now drops to 12-1 following his first defeat, managed to give fans a smile and shrugged off the loss, saying: ‘That’s my curse.
‘I even said before this fight that it only takes one split second to switch off,’ Huni said.
‘And it happened tonight.
‘Credit to Fabio and his team, I’m grateful for the opportunity.
‘He’s a real champion.
‘Get behind him because he’s doing good things.’
The humble Australian added: ‘He’s just an awesome fighter man.
‘He never gave up and he got the win tonight. Credit to Fabio.’
Wardley also admitted he had struggled across some of the early rounds.
‘Look, Justis Huni is a great operator,’ he said
‘But no matter what, I’m going to be aggravated with myself because we’d been through everything over and over again – knew the game down to a ‘t’ – and I should’ve gone better in some of those rounds.
‘But that’s how it goes.
‘You have to just find a way to win.’
