What is our collective assessment, ten bouts into his career? There was a load of early hype around him emerging from the amateurs, but despite capturing the Australian heavyweight title in his pro debut and defending it thrice and defeating everyone placed in front of him most of that excitement has cooled and given way to criticism. He used to get a lot of comparisons to Joseph Parker, specifically called "Joe with less pop" - and that still rings true although he does seem to be working on his power delivery with a quick dispatching of game unbeaten Troy "The Titan" Pilcher earlier today. Conditioning is a going concern (with a late scare versus Kevin Lerena in March) and you can tell from a glance that his gym discipline isn't the best, even accounting for his Tongan parentage and the endomorphic tendencies associated with Polynesians. There has also been talk of discord and disunity in his corner. If he can get on rails, everybody seems to agree that in terms of latent talent and skill he could produce some fine work. In the amateurs he posted notable victories over Richard Torrez Jr., Magomed Abdullaev, and this year's Olympic hopeful from Oz at 92+ kg, Teremoana Samson Junior Leon Teremoana. He lost to Bakhodir Jalolov, and was twice supposed to link up with Kunkabayev but swapped a pair of walkovers (Huni withdrawing first with illness, and Kunk from the "rematch" for unknown reasons). So what does he need? Besides a less terrible nickname? A new full time coach? Perhaps expand on his relationship with the legendary Freddie Roach?
Doesn't have the power. He could be a top ten guy amongst the garbage that is the next generation of heavies if he finds that conditioning, but he is nothing special and is not going to be.
His nickname is now The Apex Predator they were calling him that before the fight last night. Huni is a good boxer and his power looks to be improving he has very fast hands. His win over Paul Gallen the former New South Wales captain and one of the toughest men on the planet is very underrated.
He's definitely special & is capable of amounting to something significant in the H/W division. He needs to be developed properly as a professional H/W though which means facing carefully selected opponents at home over the next 12 to 18 months. That will cost money & a lot of it. My question would be where is that coming from? Secondly, his chin needs to hold up against against world class, H/W opposition. That's a test that should really come later on after he's been developed properly against intermediate level opposition at home.
Very athletic and fast heavyweight with beautiful technique. Love his body punching in particular. But his porous defense and lack of power will result in him having a lot of tough fights, which is why I don't see him having good longevity. Not sold on his durability either.
The ball is in his court. Huni is only 25 so the whole career is ahead of him at the moment. I think he has the tools to find Parker level achievements but the heavyweight division looks to be thinning out right now so he needs to stay in the pack keep improving. Still a developing fighter needs to protect the chin more and start adopting better game plans. He has has a good run of opponents. I suspect the team is not world class so that probably needs to be addressed.
I don’t think there’s too many 10 fight prospects that have been matched as tough. He held on against Lerena after outboxing him fairly comfortably, but Dubois was knocked down by Lerena himself. His speed is ridiculous for a Heavyweight. Excellent kit of punches. Really sat down on his shots last night. That left hook was beautiful watching ringside last night. Bright future.
The fight last night had Riyadh Season advertising, so he's on their radar, and hopefully that's where the money comes from.
Lerena was a good test already. Tough fight for Huni, he was rocked in round 3 and BADLY hurt in round 10. But Lerena is good fighter with solid power, his KO% is very deceptive
There wasn't just a late scare there was an early scare too against Lerena. I was my only high on him after the Gallen fight, but I never let myself get carried away. Then not only his inability to stop Tabiti, but the fact that he was walking into vicious counters, sent up a huge red flag. That's why I picked Kevin to KO him, and he would have if he wasn't running on empty himself. So... he's going nowhere, and will be an easy KO win and nice shiny 0 for somebody like Jalalov or even somebody like Bakole to have on their record. I'm doubtful he could even beat this diminished version of Michael Hunter.
Writing off a prospect after 10 fights is pretty wild. You'd have been calling Cassius Clay a dud after he got a gift against Doug Jones in his 18th fight.
I have a pretty good track record when it comes to predicting the level of Heavyweight prospects, and I'll put it up against any of the so-called experts. Huni isn't it, I know that may distress you greatly, but there is nothing remotely special about him. You know it as well as I, so stop deluding yourself. He's solid for domestic level, slightly better than Goodall, but at world level, he'll be violently dispatched by pretty much everyone in the Top 15, and several other unproven contenders.
I don't see the potential in Huni to become a top-5 HW, not at all. Surely he's skilled enough but his lack of punching power is so obvious. Young Jozeph Parker looked like Ernie Shavers compared to Huni in terms of punching power. And once Parker stepped up to a world level, his power started to look average. He scored all of his biggest wins by decision. Parker overall is clearly the better boxer than Huni and will have a better career when all is said and done. Parker would beat Huni now and 2-3 years from now, don't doubt about it. Keep in mind that Lerena nearly KO'd Huni with single hook and was just too gassed to follow and land another one.
Why would it distress me greatly? I'm not following. As for nothing remotely special, that's ludicrous. His kit of punches are fantastic and hand speed for a Heavyweight is exceptional. He's better than "slightly better" than Goodall. He boxed Goodall's ears off. Anyway, time will tell but I'm not in the habit of writing off prospects that have been matched tough within their first 10 bouts.