Joe Goodall accused of needing to bend rules to beat Justis Huni in Australian heavyweight blockbuster
Joe Goodall’s time with the “master of boxing’s dark arts” Kevin Barry has Justis Huni ready for a “dirty” Australian heavyweight showdown.
Boxing/MMA
Don't miss out on the headlines from Boxing/MMA. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Joe Goodall has been accused of a being a dirty fighter who will need to bend the rules to beat Justis Huni in Wednesday night’s heavyweight showdown at Nissan Arena.
In what has already been dubbed Australia’s “best heavyweight fight in 100 years”, event promoter and Huni advocate Dean Lonergan said he was “seriously concerned” about the bout’s outcome due to time Goodall has spent in the United States preparing for the fight under trainer Kevin Barry.
A legend of the New Zealand boxing scene, 62-year-old Barry is now based in Las Vegas, where 2014 Commonwealth Games silver medallist Goodall has worked with him for the past year.
“Joe Goodall … I don’t think would have been half the fighter that he is today after 12 months without Kevin Barry,” Lonergan said.
“He went away from these shores to Las Vegas a mental and physical marshmallow – he’s come back and his body is chiselled like granite.
“I’ve got no doubt that Kevin Barry’s DNA to win has been heavily ingrained in him.”
Lonergan described Barry, who he has called a “friend” for 25 years, as “a master of all the dark arts of boxing”.
“He’s trained guys in the past who I thought were mediocre fighters and turned them into absolute animals, and guys who will do what they have to do to win,” Lonergan said.
“Whether it be elbowing, whether it be headbutting, whether it be low blows … what worries me in this fight (is) that Joe Goodall will come to the table with a whole lot of stuff that we’ve never seen before from Joe.
“Kevin’s already alluded to it on a number of occasions and talked about Joe being the ‘Junkyard Dog’ who’ll keep coming and coming,
“I can promise you he will … be coming with dirty tricks, and it’s something that the referee will definitely have to be watching out for.”
Barry accused Lonergan of trying to get an “emotional response” from the Goodall camp.
Goodall later said suggestions he was a dirty fighter were “harsh”, but part of the pre-fight “banter”.
“I’m a world-class boxer – I know that,” said the 29-year-old Bendigo product, who is unbeaten in nine professional bouts.
“He (Huni) is a world-class boxer, so it’s going to be a boxing fight for sure, but the longer it goes on, it could come down to who wants it more. Sometimes will beats skill.”
Both camps have backed their fighters to win the bout via a stoppage or knockout within six rounds.
Huni, who has won each of his five professional bouts, hit back at claims he lacked power in his punches and promised to go “toe-to-toe” with Goodall if he had to.
“I’ll stand there and fight,” the 23-year-old Brisbane boxer said.
“If he wants to go to the deep waters, I’m willing to go to the deep waters.
“I’ve done all the hard work and I’ve done all the preparation for this fight. Bring it on.”
The winner of the bout will earn a top-15 world heavyweight ranking and claim the WBO Oriental, IBF Pan-Pacific and WBC Australasian titles.
Originally published as Joe Goodall accused of needing to bend rules to beat Justis Huni in Australian heavyweight blockbuster
Shock real life ‘fight club’ erupts in Sydney
The organiser of a brutal underground fight club has clapped back at Jeff Fenech after the boxing great rubbished the “sad” events.
Mundine: Bare-knuckle ‘phenomenon’ can rival UFC
Anthony Mundine was an NRL and boxing legend. Now ‘The Man’ is leading a bare-knuckle fighting revolution in Australia — and says it can be just as big as UFC.