With Justis Huni less than a week out from his next fight, it’s only natural that questions are being asked about potential links between that bout against Joe Goodall and the shocking drive-by shooting that rattled the boxing star and his family in the early hours of Thursday morning.
Yet any wild theories suggesting the shooter was attempting to shake-up Huni before he enters the ring sound crazy to Goodall.
“I wouldn’t have a clue, I wouldn’t know where to start with that,” Goodall told Wide World of Sports.
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“I don’t want to speculate but I wouldn’t think so.
“It’s pretty crazy stuff. I’m glad no one was hurt and the fight is still on.
“I think all the investigations, that’s police business. I only got told about it yesterday, I can’t go off that much.
“I’m just focused on June 15th and not worried about what’s going on around me. I’m in tunnel vision fight mode.
“I’m sure it’s difficult to deal with but I’m not thinking about anyone else but myself right now.”
Speaking to reporters outside his house later in the day, Huni’s father and trainer Rocki said he’s worried about what the incident may mean, less than a week out from the bout at Brisbane’s Nissan Arena.
“It could be someone out there that doesn’t want to see Justis succeed, I’m really worried about that,” he said.
“But at the moment I’m just guessing (why their house was shot at).
“We’ve just got to keep moving forward. It’s under a week before the fight.
“Justis was shattered, but wants to stay focused … it’s a big fight.”
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Rattled but unhurt, Huni still went to training in the morning to finish his last day of sparring against former WBA heavyweight champion Lucas Browne.
After coming off a shock first round victory over Junior Fa on the George Kambosos v Devin Haney card, the 43-year-old was called in to help Huni prepare for his first fight since his bout with Paul Gallen last June.
Huni was set to face New Zealand’s Kiki Leutele on May 11, but that fight was cancelled when the card’s headliner and world title contender Jai Opetaia suffered a rib injury.
At the beginning of the year, Huni and his team were ambitiously aiming for seven fights in 2022 but are yet to step in the ring as yet.
Browne told Wide World of Sports, the shooting incident won’t derail Huni’s preparation if it’s handled the right way and the Aussie heavyweight champion still had plenty of pop in his punches during Thursday’s session.
“I think it all depends on how it’s all handled. If it all goes away quickly it will be OK,” Browne said.
“But if it keeps going and manifesting it will get worse. The kid’s awesome. Judging by the sparring we did yesterday, he was on fire it doesn’t seem to be bothering him. If they can brush it under the rug and keep going they’ll be fine.”
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