By David Finger
Boxing, like football, is a game of inches and for heavyweights Justis Huni, 246.1, and Frazer Clarke, 259.1, today was a chance to inch their way into a fight with the current WBO interim heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley. Both men came a few inches short of a win over Wardley, with Clarke initially holding Wardley to a draw in their first match back in March of 2024 and Huni having outboxed and outworked Wardley for the better part of ten rounds before Wardley scored a come from behind knockout victory in round ten back in June of last year. And both men were coming into the ring in Tottenham on the heels of a loss, and the recognition that another loss would almost certainly close the door on a serious run for a world title.
The quicker Huni started off the fight boxing effectively in round one, and clearly outboxed his opponent in the opening three rounds, but it was also clear that Clarke had some heavy hands and in round four he finally landed a solid counter punch that stunned Huni and had him covering up in the corner as the round came to a close. Huni rebounded well in round five and seemed to edge out Clarke, but Clarke’s pressure had Huni covering up on the ropes in the second half of round six.
Although the seventh round slowed down slightly, the two contenders began upping the pressure in round eight and both men landed heavy punches half way through the round. And although questions emerged about both men’s chin in the past, they did a good job of answering those questions by taking the other man’s punches well.
By round nine the fast pace clearly was taking a toll on both men, but Huni seemed to have a little more in the tank and dug deep to edge the round by an inch, but it still seemed like any man’s fight going into the final round. Ultimately it was Huni’s round, and night, as he used footwork and his quicker hands to edge out the round.
It was this work rate in the final two rounds that proved decisive when the fight went to the scorecards. Although one judge scored it even at 95-95, she was outvoted by the other two judges, who both scored the fight 96-94 for the Australian. With the win Huni’s sees his record improve to 13-1, 7 KOs while Clarke’s record slips to 9-3-1, 7 KOs.
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