Boxing news: Heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua laughs off Justis Huni’s challenge

Heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua has kept an eye on Justis Huni’s progress but had a warning for the Australian, who is keen to challenge the British star.

Heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua has been warming up for his next world title defence by sparring Australian Demsey McKean – but he had a message for another aspiring challenger Justis Huni.

Joshua, who will put his WBA, IBF and WBO titles on the line against Oleksandr Usyk in London on September 26 (AEST), has kept an eye on Huni’s progress from afar and admitted during a teleconference with international media that he liked what he saw.

“Really good fighter,” Joshua told News Corp.

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“He is a boxer-fighter, very aggressive, does well in pressure situations. I know of him, I watch him. Good luck to him. What’s he doing in the future?”

Told that Huni was planning to have a few more fights as a pro, compete at the Commonwealth Games and then look to knock him out, Joshua laughed: “Good luck to him.”

Justis Huni would relish a crack at Anthony Joshua. Picture: Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

Huni will have to wait in line. Joshua’s immediate priority is Usyk and he is expected to have little trouble in retaining his titles against the Ukrainian at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a fortnight, the prelude to a unification bout against fellow Brit Tyson Fury.

The pair were supposed to fight on August 14, only for the bout to be scuppered when Fury was forced to defend his WBC title against American Deontay Wilder.

The expectation is that the megafight between the Brits will now go ahead next year. In the meantime, Joshua has finetuned his preparations for Usyk by bringing the undefeated McKean into camp.

McKean’s job has been to mirror Usyk’s style and Joshua can’t speak highly enough of the 198cm southpaw, who goes by the moniker ‘The Tower of Terror’.

“Phenomenal fighter, great man,” Joshua said.

“He is a great sparring partner and we’re practising. There are no egos. No one wins the world titles in the gym. So what we do is we practice. I am bringing him along, he is bringing me along, and he is welcome in my camp any time.

Anthony Joshua has been sparring with Australian Demsey McKean.

“He is six foot-something, big guy, southpaw – we don’t really get too many of those. I am sure he will do well if he is managed right. He has great potential.”

While Huni has become a media darling, the 30-year-old McKean has strung together 19 consecutive wins in relative anonymity. There have been attempts to match the pair but they have come to nothing thus far.

McKean’s manager Angelo Di Carlo rubbished suggestions ‘The Tower of Terror’ was running scared from Huni.

“That’s nonsense, Demsey isn’t scared of Justis,” he said.

“We know it’s the fight Australia wants to see and those two guys are easily our standout heavyweights. But Demsey is world-ranked and Justis is still a boy in the professional ranks.

“He hasn’t really fought anyone of note and certainly no one as big as Demsey, who is a monster. Sparring with Joshua has been great for Demsey and really opened his eyes to the quality of heavyweights outside of Australia.”

Anthony Joshua will step back into the ring against Oleksandr Usyk in London on September 26. Picture: AFP

Joshua had nothing but praise for the Australian, who is based in Ipswich – about 45 minutes west of Brisbane,

“No one is going to be exactly the same as the guy I am fighting,” Joshua said.

“Anyone who throws punches at me is doing me a favour. So Demsey is just throwing punches at me. Some of them are hitting me, some of them are not hitting me.

“So when they do hit me, I think to myself how do I stop them hitting me. So he is doing me a big favour of making me think about how not to get hit against a southpaw.

“That was the most important thing. He is not afraid to throw punches in sparring, so that is really good. It helps me get better because my brain is getting wired to things.

“It is a blessing to have him in camp.”