FABIO WARDLEY DESCRIBES JUSTIS HUNI AS 'HARDER FIGHT' THAN JARRELL MILLER, REQUIRES 'COMPLETE TRAINING OVERHAUL'
It was late April when Fabio Wardley and his team took to trawling all the rankings they could find as they attempted to secure a suitable replacement for the injured Jarrell Miller.
With Wardley’s dream outing on the pitch at Portman Road on June 7 hanging in the balance, there was no chance of moving the date and much less cancelling it altogether.
Now after agreeing a deal to face fellow undefeated puncher Justis Huni (12-0, 7 KOs), the Ipswich man believes he has not only arranged a harder fight but one with greater rewards than facing Miller, who withdrew with a shoulder problem, ever represented.
Huni, 26, sits higher than Wardley (18-0-1, 17 KOs) with the IBF, WBC and WBO and jumped at the chance to travel to England to fight for the interim WBA world heavyweight title. It was that enthusiasm, Wardley says, that secured him the fight over the other potential replacements.
“Honestly, when we heard the news about Miller, we were just looking through Boxrec, The Ring, the WBA rankings, WBO rankings, WBC rankings - all of them,” Wardley tells The Ring.
“We were just seeing who was in the upper echelons of the rankings and then looking at their current status. So that meant, who has a fight lined up already, who is available, who might be available. Then we could stick a list together and rule people out for a variety of reasons.
“Either they had a fight, they’re not fit, they’re not ready, they don’t want it, they haven’t been training, they’ve just had a fight, contractually they’re not in the right place, this, that, the other. There are 101 reasons why people can or can't fight. We had to rule a bunch of stuff out and then get to a very short list, really. Huni was on there, and we as a team made the final decision on him because I felt like he was probably the best one of the lot.
“He offered the most and to be honest I liked how keen he was. We were speaking to many different teams so you hear the vibe from them. Some umm and ahh about it whereas Huni, credit to him and his team, were very immediate.
“They said send us the contract and I was impressed by that. We didn’t have much time so we needed someone to make the process streamlined and who was not just turning up for the sake of it. He will be here to do a job.”
The late switch of opponent has meant a ‘complete training overhaul’ for Wardley, who had been preparing for the 26-1-2 (22) Miller. Although the 36-year-old Big Baby would likely have provided him the toughest test of his career to date, Wardley did feel he was a reasonably predictable opponent. The same, he believes, can not be said of Huni.
“I think all round it’s a harder fight,” Wardley adds. “And there are way more variables with Huni.
“I knew what type of Jarrell Miller was turning up. There were not too many tricks he was going to pull out the bag. Don’t get me wrong, he is very big, strong and effective but it’s simple to put a game-plan together for. It doesn't make it easy but it makes it simple.
“But with Justis Huni, he offers a variety of different problems to solve and figure out, different ways of going about things, he can turn up in a couple of different fashions. He has looked slightly different from fight-to-fight so we not only need a Plan A, but a B, C and maybe D.
“It means stylistically it’s going to be complete training overhaul in terms of planning, prep and getting ready for an opponent like Huni. I’ve been training and sparring so those boxes are ticked but it’s the technical side, the details, that need changing and they are more difficult and more complicated things to get right.”
Queensberry are expected to bring the two of them together for a press conference at Portman Road, home of Wardley’s beloved Ipswich Town, this month as they start the promotion for a new fight.
Wardley and Miller had clashed at their initial press conference, with the American upset by a ‘diss track’ he had heard which he thought his opponent had cooked up. It turned out be an AI creation which Wardley had never even heard but it did not prevent the brash American from slapping his opponent as they came face-to-face.
Wardley is expecting an altogether quieter afternoon when him and Huni meet for the first time - but he did warn the Australian not to bother wearing a Norwich City jersey after what happened to the other two men who opted to don the colours of Ipswich’s bitter rivals.
“I don’t expect Huni to turn up ranting and raving like Miller did,” Wardley said. “From what I can see he’s pretty respectable, calm and reserved. Who knows, he might turn up with a massive chip on his shoulder.
“If it’s another Norwich shirt, I wouldn’t bother. Two people have done that now and it’s not a good omen. Frazer Clarke got knocked out and now Miller has got injured.”
And what about a Huni diss track? Wardley laughs.
“I’m working on it,” he says. “I need to find out a few more details about him so I’m asking around to get some really personal bits. But it’ll be coming out soon, maybe a collab with Lethal B or something. I’m working on it.”
