The dark family secret driving Justis Huni to boxing greatness is confronting.
Huni’s uncle, Maamaloa Huni, was sentenced to 20 years’ jail in 2013 after attempted murder, bashing a love rival before driving over his head with a car.
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It was a horrific attack, and explains why Justis is so determined to overturn the stigma of his surname and make “Huni” synonymous with success and inspiration.
“That’s what it’s all about, making a positive impact to this world, that’s all I’m trying to do,” Huni said.
“If I can inspire young ones coming up to stick to their dreams and their goals, and work hard at it, they can get there one day.”
Huni’s father and boxing trainer, Rocki, has risen at 3.45am six mornings a week for the past 15 years to follow his son during his morning road runs.
At first it was in his car. These days it’s on his bike.
It’s not comfortable, but he does it to keep his boy on the straight and narrow path.
“My brother is in jail, he’s been incarcerated, what he did wasn’t good, but this is why my kids fight in the ring, and not out in the streets,” Rocki said.
“I don’t want my kids to end up like me or my brothers.”
Justis’ older brother Lopeti has also spent time inside a jail cell.
But he has turned his life around, influenced by his younger sibling’s discipline and dedication. Lopeti had given up his own boxing dreams, but has dropped nearly 20kg and plans to embark on a professional career later this year.
As for 22-year-old Justis, the love for his uncle hasn’t changed, and neither has the promise he made him as an eight-year-old boy who declared he would one day unify the heavyweight division.
“My uncle Loa, I’d say he was one of the uncles I was closest with, I was always around him growing up, I used lay on him to wake him up,” Justis said.
“I used to go around everywhere with him. He had this black Commodore and we used to roll around everywhere.
“This is so long ago, this was when Hummers were big. We were driving around and we saw one, and I promised him I’d get him one, one day.
“Still to this day I hold that promise.
“He’s inside, he’s locked up, but when he gets out I’ll definitely have that Hummer waiting there for him.”
Rocki was hesitant when Justis announced he was leaving school in Year 11 to put all of his focus on becoming the undisputed heavyweight champion, but understood his motivation.
“He’s had that dream from a young age,” Rocki said.
“He told my brother when he wasn’t even a teen. My brother still remembers, Justis was eight years old, he came to watch Justis spar, and to this day he remembers what Justis said, that he’d buy him a car.
“He was always talking about a Hummer, he always tells Justis: ‘Hey Justis, don’t forget that promise you made to me about that Hummer’.
“My brother will never forget those words Justis said to him to buy him a Hummer, he doesn’t let Justis forget.
“He watches the news in jail all the time, and people tell him what Justis has been doing. All he wants is newspaper clips, anything that involves Justis, he wants.
“He tells everyone, everyone in jail knows who Justis is.”
As he prepares to defend his Australian heavyweight title against Paul Gallen, before embarking on the journey to Tokyo where he plans to win Australia’s first boxing gold medal, Justis is grateful to be carrying the surname for his family.
“It means the world to me that I have that effect on people, it’s the same as my brother-in-law, he’s inside at the moment as well, and inside he hears a lot of people talking about me,” Huni said.
“I was really close with my brother-in-law as well, it’s awesome that my name is going around and people are starting to talk about me now.
“Everything is starting to happen and my dreams are coming true.”
THE CHILDHOOD TRAUMA DRIVING GALLEN’S BOXING DREAM
It’s the childhood trauma that Paul Gallen won’t talk about, but has given him all the confidence that he can defeat Justis Huni for the Australian heavyweight boxing title.
In 2014, Gallen was fined $50,000 by the NRL and forced to undergo a leader’s accountability course before he was allowed to represent the Kangaroos again.
This was after he’d made offensive remarks on Twitter about the exit of Cronulla chief executive Steve Noyce and the NRL’s handling of the Sharks’ ASADA-imposed doping sanctions, for which he served 12 weeks.
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“I remember when I got in trouble from the NRL, and they made me do that course,” Gallen said.
“I remember some of the things I learnt about myself during my childhood. I learnt a fair bit about myself then, and why I am like I am.
“It’s not something I want to go into, this isn’t the platform. But I know why I am like I am. And a lot of it comes down to my upbringing and what I had to go through.
“I just want to be successful.”
It is this intrinsic understanding of how he is wired, how he managed to play 19 seasons in the NRL, win a premiership, captain NSW to a State of Origin series victory, switch to boxing to beat Mark Hunt and then knock out former world champion Lucas Browne, that has allowed Gallen to needle Huni mercilessly.
The 22-year-old Australian heavyweight champion may know his boxing game inside out, but is still learning much about himself as a man.
And this is what 39-year-old Gallen has seized upon in a bid to gain the mental edge, where physically he is outgunned by a younger, faster foe.
“I’m so far in his head it’s not funny,” Gallen said.
“He says I’m not, but I know I am. That’s the question that remains to be answered, isn’t it? He can‘t handle the pressure at the moment. Whether he can handle the ring or not remains to be seen. But there’s no doubt about it. He’s really struggling with the pressure in the build-up to this.
“I can just see his actions and his body, facial expressions, just the way he talks.”
Gallen said it was “disgraceful” and “selfish” that Huni had snubbed an appearance on Fox Sports’ NRL 360 show on Monday night.
“He can’t handle pressure, can’t handle the expectation, I’m going to apply pressure to him in the fight and expose him,” Gallen said.
“I told you from the start, he’s an unbelievable fighter, skilful, fast. He’s got everything. But there’ a chink in that armour.
“In the past, he’s been in no-show. He was a no-show [on Monday] night.
“I’ve found a little chink, he doesn’t like the pressure and I’ve got to try and expose it.”
Huni replied: “If he says all that stuff and then can’t back it up, he’s a fraud.”
As for his absence from NRL 360, Huni said: “It wasn’t told to me firmly, we did make dinner plans, I had family come in so I wasn’t going to cancel that, a lot of them travelled a long way to be here.
“[Gallen] can say what he wants, I had plans and that’s that. If he’s got a problem with it, he can sort it out [on Wednesday] night.
“In this fight I will show my boxing skills, and I don’t think Gal will stand a chance.”
AUSTRALIA’S ANSWER TO TYSON’: HUNI’S IRON MIKE TACTIC
Peter Badel
Justis Huni says he will inflict the first professional defeat of Paul Gallen’s career by using a tactical style that made his boyhood idol, ‘Iron’ Mike Tyson, a heavyweight legend.
Huni (4-0, 3KO) is a man under siege entering Wednesday’s fight against Paul Gallen (11-0-1, 6KO) with the NRL legend labelling the Australian heavyweight champion a mentally-weak fighter who will choke under pressure.
The quietly-spoken Huni has been caned by Gallen in the media war of words, but he has vowed to let his fists do the talking in their 10-round heavyweight bout at Sydney’s International Convention Centre.
Huni will be world-ranked by the IBF if he disposes of Gallen and while he has been criticised for lacking knockout power, the Brisbane-born 106kg hulk says he wants to be Australia’s version of Iron Mike with a ruthless style of sustained pressure.
“Like Mike Tyson, I’m not the biggest or tallest heavyweight,” Huni said on the eve of his Gallen showdown.
“If the knockout comes, I will jump on it, but I like breaking opponents down, just like Mike Tyson did.
HOW TO WATCH PAUL GALLEN VS JUSTIS HUNI
Boxing fans can watch Paul Gallen vs Justis Huni live stream on Kayo. The start time is scheduled for Wednesday, June 16 at 7pm AEST / 5pm AWST. The PPV price is $59.95.
Watch Paul Gallen v Justis Huni on Main Event available on Foxtel and Kayo, Wednesday 16 June at 7pm AEST. ORDER NOW >
“I am probably average in size compared to the top heavyweights in the pros like Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.
“But I train with a style to beat the biggest guys. My angles, my head movement, I like to get on the inside.
“When Mike Tyson threw a combo it was explosive and I’ve tried to copy that.
“He used to put everything into every single punch. He was ruthless. That’s what I loved about Mike Tyson.
“I haven’t had a proper knockout yet, I know that, but even if I can break my opponents down, that’s good enough for me.”
While Gallen has launched a series of attacks on Huni, even accusing his father Rocki of allegedly living out his boxing dreams through his son, the reigning Australian heavyweight king refuses to get into the gutter.
Huni failed to drop Christian Tsoye in his most recent bout three weeks ago, but there was a feeling ‘JPH’ chose not to hit top gear as he chased the conditioning of a 10-round fight.
This time, Huni says if he senses Gallen is in trouble, he will go for the jugular.
“Look, Gallen has done well for himself in boxing. He is fit. He is not a bum, I’ll give him that,” Huni said.
“I don’t think I have fought to the best of my ability. I still have a lot to prove. There is a lot of stuff I can do that I haven’t shown yet.
“In my fight against Tsoye, I was looking for rounds, but I won’t be taking my foot off the pedal for Gallen.
“If I sense Gallen is wobbling or there is an opening for me, I will step it up and finish him off.”
Huni’s promoter Dean Lonergan said the world-title hopeful will bring Gallen’s soaring boxing career crashing to the canvas.
“At the same time in his career, Justis Huni is a better fighter than Joseph Parker,” he said.
“Parker went on to win the WBO world title and he is still in the frame today.
“One of the reasons we are putting Justis up against Gallen is to expose him to some pressure from a media point of view.
“Everything is being sat up for Justis to have a shot at a world-title, however he cannot afford to stumble, so he must beat Gallen … and beat him convincingly.
“There is zero chance of Gallen winning. Justis Huni will knock him out for all Queenslanders.”
GALLEN VS HUNI FIGHT CARD
Paul Gallen vs. Justis Huni, 10 rounds, heavyweight – for IBF Pan Pacific heavyweight title, Australian heavyweight title
Issac Hardman vs. Emmanuel Carlos, 10 rounds, middleweight – for IBF Pan Pacific middleweight title, WBO Oriental middleweight title, Australian middleweight title
Sam Goodman vs. Nort Beauchamp, 8 rounds, featherweight – for Australian National Boxing Federation Australasian featherweight title
Andrei Mikhailovich vs. Alex Hanan, 8 rounds, super welterweight