Fabio Wardley has dismissed complaints from beaten heavyweight rival Justis Huni’s camp over the conclusion of their fight, insisting he would have left the Australian “unconscious” had the bout continued.

Britain’s Wardley had been outperformed at Portman Road on Saturday night and trailed on all three judges’ scorecards going into the 10th round, but landed a stunning right hand to floor Huni.

Referee John Latham waved off the bout moments before completing a full 10-count, with the official appearing to have concluded Huni was in no state to continue.

Following the bout, promoter Mick Francis, who is part of Huni’s management team, insisted his fighter should have been given the chance to continue.

Francis said: “He just waved it off. I’m lodging a protest with the WBA.

“It’s a ****ing world title, not some fight in the park. And they didn’t give Justis Huni the correct opportunity.”

Taking to social media on Sunday, Wardley posted a video which he suggested showed the count reaching almost 10 seconds.

Wardley wrote on X: “For educational purposes. The count stars the second Huni hits the canvas. And it’s the fourth official outside the ring that starts the count and the ref takes his queue from there to where to start…”

The Ipswich fighter, who took his professional record to 19-0-1 as he remained undefeated, then received replies to his post suggesting that the video showed the referee waving the bout off inside of a 10-second count.

Wardley responded: “The referee is legally allowed to wave the fight off whenever he wants if he doesn’t feel the fighter is able to continue. It’s completely at his discretion.

“Just making the count isn’t enough. You have to be solid physically, mentally and convince the ref that you’re all there and are ready to continue. Clearly he wasn’t.

“And then the ref sends him out… I unloaded a barrage of shots, render him unconscious. Then the ref gets ridiculed for a bad decision. Which outcome would you prefer?”

Speaking in a press conference shortly after the fight, Huni said he was “not going to kick up a fuss” over the situation.

“It is what it is,” Huni said. “I’m not going to kick up a fuss about it. It’s done now.

“Fabio, he deserves to enjoy his win.

“What are you going to do? Have a big argument about it? The decision stays the same. Credit to him and I’ll be back.”

Francis said that Eddie Hearn and Spencer Brown, who are both also part of Huni’s promotional and management team, agreed with his assessment that the fight was ended too quickly.

Speaking in the post-fight press conference, Brown said: “We’ve looked at it – it looks nine to me.

“I think they should have at least given he [Huni] a little bit of time. Justis says he was still groggy but coming to, quite nicely.”