Fabio Wardley Comes from Behind to KO Justis Huni  

After falling behind, Fabio “War” Wardley pulled out a favorite weapon to neutralize Justis Huni and capture the WBA interim heavyweight world title by knockout in front of a sold-out crowd on Saturday.

“A wonderful and weird journey boxing is,” said Wardley.

More than 20,000 fans saw England’s Wardley (19-0-1, 18 KOs) knock out Australia’s Huni (12-1, 7 KOs) during a rainy day at Portman Ground Football Ground in Wardley’s Hometown of Ipswich, England.

One single right cross did the job.

Wardley was the centerpiece of the boxing show at Ipswich. The former white collar boxing champion had graduated to the top level of heavyweight contenders with power despite lacking amateur experience.

On Saturday, he faced Huni, a fighter with loads of amateur experience and who replaced the originally scheduled Jarrell “Big Baby” Miller. An injury forced a change and in stepped the Aussie. He performed remarkably well.

From the opening round it was apparent that Huni was not a pushover and displayed quick hands, good agility and defensive skills that gave problems for nine rounds.

Wardley’s hands down defensive fighting style proved favorable to Huni who exploited the British fighter’s attacks with counters and quick combinations.

“He is a great boxer, some great skills. He brought out all kinds of different tricks,” said Wardley about Huni.

After back-and-forth action that seemed to end evenly for six rounds, Huni took control of the fight with a steady attacks of quick combinations and accurate rights. Wardley seemed frustrated by an inability to connect.

In the ninth round Wardley concentrated on scoring with long left jabs to the body and head. The change of attack seemed to stall Huni who tried to connect with the same combinations. The jabs caught the Aussie off guard.

Wardley continued using the jabs to the head and body in the 10th. Huni tried to counter with a right and was beaten to the punch by Wardley’s own short right cross. Down went Huni for the count. Nobody saw that punch coming. It was the equalizer Wardley possesses in his pocket at all times.

Wardley was declared the winner by knockout at 1:42 of the 10^th round.

“I don’t profess to be some kind of (Oleksandr) Usyk. One thing I do is win fights. Dig deep and that’s what I had to do tonight,” said Wardley.

Huni was realistic about his loss to Wardley.

“That’s my curse. I even said before this fight it takes one little second to switch-off,” Huni said about the knockout loss. “He never gave up and he got the win.”

Promoter Frank Warren described how Wardley overcame Huni.

“He’s got a big heart and got a big win,” Warren said.

Other Bouts

Ireland’s Pierce O’Leary (17-0, 9 KOs) pounded and pounded the anvil head of Liam Dillon (15-3-1) and had to settle for a unanimous decision victory over the British stalwart to win two regional super lightweight titles.

No way was Dillon going down.

O’Leary staggered Dillon early in the fight with a left hook but discovered quickly that the former British champion absorbs blows like a sponge takes water. Round after round, O’Leary targeted different areas and found that Dillon’s biggest weapon is his chin of iron.

After 12 rounds, the judges had it 115-113, 116-112 and 117-112 i O’Leary who attains the European super lightweight title.

Olympic bronze medalist Lewis Richardson (1-0) showed off his speed and agility to win his pro debut over Estonia’s Dmitri Protkunas (8-21-1) by decision after six rounds in a middleweight fight. Though he was dominant in the punch category, almost all of the blows were of the slapping variety.

Veteran cruiserweight Mike Perez knocked out Steven Ward in the ninth round with a left in a regional title fight. Cuba’s

Perez is 39 and has been around for quite awhile on the boxing scene. He floored Ward three times in winning by knockout and proving capable of a world title fight.

In an interesting match between 40-year old heavyweights Albania’s Nelson Hysa (23-0, 21 KOs)  showed off solid fighting skills in knocking out Germany’s Patrick Korte (22-5-1) in the second round. Hysa was light on his feet and displayed accurate punching power with a sharp right cross and quick check left hook. Knockdowns in the first and second round did the job for the Albanian.

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