Live: Justis Huni KO fallout continues ahead of Opetaia’s Gold Coast world title fight

If you needed some illustration as to how much Huni was dominating this morning, check out the official scorecard.

Ouch.

It shouldn’t necessarily be a surprise.

Wardley was fighting white collar bouts only a short time ago, getting in the sport very late in life.

Huni, meanwhile, was one of the most talented amateur boxers on the planet.

He knows his way around the ring.

Here’s some footage of the knockdown and the count from ringside at Portman Road.

You can see John Latham checking the count with the official time keeper ringside as Wardley is directed to the neutral corner.

Official boxing rules say that the count starts when the opponent is in the neutral corner and, to Wardley’s credit, he went straight there.

However, even accounting for that, it appeared to be a very quick count.

According to Fox Sports, Huni’s manager Mick Francis will lodge an appeal, claiming the English referee John Latham waved the fight off early.

“He just waved it off,” Francis said to Fox Sports.

“I’m lodging a protest with the WBA.

“We haven’t heard the end of this.

“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.

“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.”

Of course, emotions can be incredibly high in the immediate aftermath of such a phenomenal stoppage, especially when Huni had been so dominant.

The scorecards at the time of the stoppage all had Huni winning by massive margins; 89-82, 88-83 and 89-82.

If you haven’t heard, Australian heavyweight Justis Huni suffered his first professional defeat this morning in the UK, losing via KO to British fighterFabio Wardley in the 10th round.

Huni, who only accepted the fight on short notice, was absolutely dominating the contest with his speed and skill far too much for the lumbering Suffolk local.

However, that all changed in the 10th round, when Wardley landed a right hand shot from the Gods to sit Huni down and force the referee into waving the contest off.

“I don’t profess to being any [Oleksandr] Usyk or Justis Huni who has all the skills,” Wardley said post-fight.

“But I know how to win fights and that’s one thing I knew I had to do tonight.”

Huni, for his part, bemoaned the momentary lapse that cost him a deserved victory.

“That’s my curse. I even said before this fight it only takes one second to switch off, it happened tonight,” he said.

Hello folks and welcome to a Sunday smashdown on the Gold Coast as arguably Australia’s best pound-for-pound fighter Jai Opetaia aims to defend his IBF and Ring cruiserweight belts against undefeated Italian Claudio Squeo.

My name is Simon Smale and I shall be your eyes and ears this evening on what has already been a big – and controversial – day for Australian boxing across the globe.

We’ll get into all the news from Justis Huni’s dramatic defeat at a soaking wet Ipswich football ground this morning, as well as all the build up for yet another world title fight on the Gold Coast.

So settle in for a solid evening of pugilistic action and we’ll do our best to entertain you all as we go.