Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman and modern day star Anthony Joshua: these are the names Justis Huni could leave in his wake in a relentless pursuit of a lasting legacy.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It took Ali four years to go from Olympic Games gold medallist in 1960 to heavyweight champion of the world. Frazier waited six years between success at Tokyo's 1964 Games and the pinnacle of professional prize fighting.
Foreman's Olympic triumph four years later in Mexico City set him on a five-year journey to become a world title holder at the elite level. Take a more recent example and Joshua waited four years between a gold medal in London and a professional world title.
Australian heavyweight champion Huni is on track to achieve both feats in a much shorter timeframe as promoter Dean Lonergan looks to turn him into an international sensation.
MORE BOXING
Now the 21-year-old, who is still able to compete at next year's Tokyo Games, is about to kickstart a bold four-fight plan including a former world champion and a one-time title challenger.
Lonergan is close to locking in a fight likely to be in Toowoomba in February, before lining up Herman Ene-Purcell in March, Alex Leapai in May and Lucas Browne in July, weeks before Huni's Tokyo tilt.
Should the 21-year-old move to 6-0 and claim gold in Tokyo, he will quickly emerge as one of the most marketable names in the heavyweight boxing scene - and legendary Top Rank promoter Bob Arum is already waiting for highlight reels to lob into his inbox.
"What's really exciting about this year is the Olympics are coming up," Lonergan said.
"If he can have six good wins in the pros, go to the Olympics, blast everybody out of there in a physical nature that no one has ever seen before and maybe come away with a gold medal, who knows after that what can happen?
"We're going to take the highlight reel from there and the highlight reel from the last one, and start sending it all around the world. He's starting to make a splash already.
"He has already launched himself in a big way. He has already done something that hasn't been done in 120 years of Australian boxing, that is coming out of the amateurs, fighting 10 rounds and winning a national title.
"Every time we fight going forward he is making history, because what he is doing has never been done before.
"These boys told me when we sat down, 'we want to make history'. Step number one, win the Australian title on debut, he has done that.
"Step two, to make history as an Australian title holder would be to win the gold medal. This is all within his scope and thought pattern.
MORE BOXING
"Step three after winning the gold medal would be to go to a world title in a very short time. Let's find a record that we can beat."
The question mark hovering over Huni is whether or not he has the knockout power to match it with the division's elite, yet there is little doubt he boasts incredible speed for a man of his stature.
Crisp uppercuts set up with a lightning fast move to the left make him seem like more of a middleweight. So impressed is Lonergan, who guided Joseph Parker to a world title, he says "this kid is better than him at the same time".
"I'm looking forward to what the future holds. The bigger it gets, the more comfortable I'll get and the more experience I'll gain," Huni said.
"I felt comfortable out there. I felt way more comfortable than the first time. At least I knew what I was walking into. The first fight I was coming in seeing all these lights, this time I felt comfortable because I've seen it and been through it before.
"We've got a lot of work in front of us. We'll rest when we get to where we want to get to."