Australian boxing heavyweights Justis Huni and Joseph Goodall on a collision course

The next time the pair step inside the squared circle there will be no secrets. Every jab and every uppercut will be beamed around the nation, the result recorded in the annals of boxing forevermore.

Because two of the best heavyweights in Australia are on a collision course with a top 15 world ranking on the line when 5-0 Huni meets 7-0-1 Goodall in Brisbane on February 4.

Goodall has been fighting in the professional ranks since 2018; Huni, since just last year. But there was always a sense two of the country's most decorated amateurs would cross paths.

"I kind of knew, ever since he turned pro, we were probably going to be on a collision course," Goodall said from Las Vegas on Thursday morning [AEDT].

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"There's no second place in boxing, you've got to find out who's the best. It's the pyramid system."

D&L Events promoter Dean Lonergan wants it known these are the best heavyweights in Australia. He pulls no punches when attention turns to 20-0 Queenslander Demsey McKean, who made his US debut last week.

Put him in the ring with Huni or Goodall, and he "would get knocked the f--k out".

Lonergan says the winner should rise into the top 15 of the IBF and WBO, putting one of the Australian sluggers on the path to a heavyweight title shot.

Now all the sparring in the world will count for little as Huni prepares for the first of a planned seven fight schedule in 2022.

"Sparring is sparring, what happens in sparring stays in the ring," Huni's father and trainer Rocki said.

"We just think this is a great opportunity for, I think, the two best heavyweights in Australia to make a name for themselves. I don't believe we can go out internationally when we haven't beat the best here in Australia. That's our whole aim."

So determined is Huni to beat all before him that Lonergan muses you could offer him WBC champion Tyson Fury tomorrow and he'd say yes.

"This is a big fight for my career, to move me up into the top 15 in two of the sanctioning bodies," Huni said.

"I'm going to be 100 per cent ready for this, as it could take me all the way in my career. This is the first step in heading towards a world title shot. Definitely a big fight and I can't wait for it.

"I'm just happy to be able to get in the ring and do what I love to do, which is boxing. Whatever opportunity I can get to get in the ring, we take it."

Huni has turned his back on an Olympic Games gold medal dream, his hopes of competing in Tokyo earlier this year dashed by a hand injury, in favour of a professional career.

But he will carry forward a semblance of his amateur career, blessed with speed often foreign to a man of his stature.

Huni's camp takes a degree of confidence from former cruiserweight king Oleksandr Usyk dethroning Anthony Joshua for three of boxing's major heavyweight titles.

If it worked for Usyk, why not for the man regarded as one of the most gifted boxers our country has seen?

"The style he has, you can't change it overnight, and he will probably never change that style. What I can tell you, the key things we've been working on is certain combinations and certain punches he will be sitting on," Rocki said.

"We know we're in the pros, we're not out there to collect points, we're out there to do damage onto our opponents, getting the win [via decision] or winning by knockout, whichever comes first."

Goodall has packed his bags and moved to Las Vegas to train with Kevin Barry, the man in Joseph Parker's corner when he won a world title five years ago.

Barry admits there was a degree of hesitation when Lonergan came knocking. He wanted more time with Goodall and felt a clash between two highly-credentialed amateurs should be given time to build hype.

"Obviously the thinking behind it was the longer you leave Joe up here with me, the harder the fight was going to be for Justis. You said 'let's get this guy now before he gets hot'," Barry said.

"I can tell you this, he has definitely improved a lot in the four and a half months he has been here. When he arrived, there were a lot of things about his game that weren't really working properly for him. His balance wasn't really that wonderful, the jab was something he was just hanging out there to throw his right hand.

"He has developed better balance now, which has given him positioning to throw a lot more punches, more powerful punches, his jab is a lot better coming forward and also going back.

"Just like there is a lot of development and improvement left in Justis, there is a lot of development left in Joseph Goodall."

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