Australian heavyweight prospect Justis Huni (8-0, 4KOs) is looking to inject some much needed momentum into his career with up to four fights this year.

Huni will get the chance to further enhance his reputation when he locks horns with South African southpaw Kevin ‘The KO Kid’ Lerena (30-2, 14KOs) in a 10-round bout on the massive ‘Knockout Chaos’ card headlined by Anthony Joshua versus Francis Ngannou at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this Friday night.

The eyes of the world will be locked in on the talent-laden card this weekend, but Huni says he feel no additional pressure to perform.

“Not really,” Huni told The Ring this week while stuck in traffic in Riyadh en route to getting a bite to eat. “I’m going in with full confidence and everything else will just fall into place. It will make a lot of people happy as well, so I’ve just got to back myself and go into the ring confident and that’s exactly where my mind is at right now.

“But this is the biggest card I’ve fought on, so I’m really excited.”

In the past three years, injuries and illness have sidelined Huni twice for 12-month stretches. His horror run of luck began in June 2021 when he injured his hand in his wide points victory over Paul Gallen, costing him a spot at the Tokyo Olympics.

Two bouts of Covid-19 pushed back his matchup with Joseph Goodall until June 2022. He won that fight on points before scoring another unanimous decision victory, this time against Kiki Toa Leutele five months later, but the win came at a cost. Huni aggravated the same hand injury on the hard-headed Leutele that ruled him out of the Olympics where he was considered one of the favorites to win the gold in the super heavyweight division.

The 24-year-old from the Queensland state capital of Brisbane looked to have turned a corner in early 2023 after signing a co-promotional deal with global powerhouse Matchroom Boxing. The plan was for Huni to make his US debut against former cruiserweight title challenger Andrew Tabiti on the undercard of the Regis Prograis versus Danielito Zorrilla fight in New Orleans, Louisiana this past June, but fate once again intervened. An ankle injury suffered two days before he was scheduled to fly out for the bout forced its postponement until late October in Cancun, Mexico.

The fight eventually took place on the undercard of the barnburner between junior lightweights O’Shaquie Foster and Eduardo Hernandez and while it didn’t come close to surpassing the impossibly high standards of the main event, it did provide Huni with the opportunity to showcase to a global audience why he was one of the hottest properties coming out of the amateurs.

The 31-year-old Lerena from Johannesburg is an experienced pro who has shared the ring with better quality opposition than Huni has thus far in his career. The ex-cruiserweight had world title contender Daniel Dubois on the deck three times in the opening frame of their December 2022 bout when the Brit injured his knee, but Dubois bravely battled back from the verge of defeat to drop Lerena twice and force the stoppage in the third round. Lerena rebounded with points wins over Ryad Merhy and Senad Gashi back home in South Africa last year.

Kevin Lerena (right) takes it to heavyweight veteran Mariusz Wach, who he outpointed over 12 rounds in September 2022. Photo by James Gradidge

More recently, Lerena was in camp with Tyson Fury ahead of the WBC titleholder’s aborted fight against Ring champion and IBF, WBA, WBO titlist Oleksandr Usyk on February 27.

Huni says he is hoping to meet the best possible version of Lerena in the ring.

“Yeah, that’s exactly what we want. We want our opponent to be at their best so that we can make a good fight,” said Huni, who has been sparring a host of lefthanded boxers in preparation for Lerena, including Ring cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia.

“I’ve done my study on him. He’s pretty explosive on the front foot, but nothing I haven’t seen before. I’m looking forward to going into this fight. I’m feeling pretty confident and I can’t wait to get in there and fight on this big stage.”

The way Huni sees it, the key to victory is keeping the fight long. If Lerena does manage to break the distance, Huni will look to dictate the exchanges on the inside.

“Yeah, that’s it. You pretty much hit the nail on the head,” Huni said. “Like I said, I think he’s explosive in close, but I feel he has to set himself up to throw punches. He has to be sitting down to throw punches, so if I don’t give him the opportunity to throw or land on me, then I don’t think he will be that active.”

Huni will face a very different set of challenges in Lerena than he did against Tabiti.

“Andrew Tabiti was very smart and elusive. He had very quick hands as well. He wasn’t always there to be hit, he was always on the move, whereas Kevin, he’s more of a front foot fighter and he will be there right in front of me as he needs to set up to throw his punches,” Huni said.

One interesting storyline in this fight is that lack of professional experience Huni has compared to Lerena. The flipside of that is that Huni had an extensive amateur career while Lerena turned pro without a single amateur fight.

Asked about the confidence Team Lerena have in their man, Huni said: “They can think what they want. That’s probably the same thing Andrew Tabiti thought about me as well. But I’ve travelled around the world and I’ve fought against a lot of different types of styles in my amateur career, so I’ve got my own experience as well. I think it will all come into play in this fight.”

Both Huni and Lerena are fringe contenders with the sanctioning bodies and the winner of Friday’s bout will be poised to crack the WBO’s top 10. In addition, a strong showing will likely result in a return invitation to Saudi Arabia to box again, not to mention another hefty paycheck.

But as far as Huni is concerned, it’s not a question of who, where and when he boxes next after this weekend. He just wants to make sure he is back in the ring again soon, picking up invaluable rounds against a range of different styles as he continues his climb to the top of the mountain.

“Nothing is locked in yet, but hopefully I’ll get three to four fights this year. I will be very happy with that,” Huni said.

“I’ve just got to come out of this fight injury-free and continue my way to the top. Just keep taking on these fights no matter what experience the opponent has on me. I’ll be able to jump in, take their experience and put it into my hands.”