Melbourne Boxer Hussein Dehaini Latest Victim in Underworld Conflict

Those who knew Hussein Dehaini say he could have been anything he wanted to be.

But what the 33-year-old boxer became was the latest casualty of Melbourne's underworld conflict, gunned down in the middle of the street last Sunday before his killers sped away.

Described as "charismatic" and "a natural athlete", Dehaini rose through the ranks in the boxing ring and, at one point, was also a talented soccer player with reasonable prospects of playing professionally.

Outside the ring, he had cemented ties to Melbourne's underworld through organised crime and his connections to bikie gangs, links that homicide detectives say make the investigation into his murder more complex.

While Dehaini ultimately chose his gloves over his cleats, his time in the gym meant he still walked two paths at the same time.

As a teenager, Dehaini ran in the same boxing circles as Ahmed Al Hamza and his younger brother — cousins of exiled crime boss Kazem Hamad, the mastermind behind a wave of firebombings and extortions during the fight for control of Victoria's black-market tobacco trade.

Before leaving Australia for the Middle East, Al Hamza developed his own lengthy links to the underworld, which included being shot outside a restaurant in Campbellfield when he was 18, and being acquitted of the 2017 murder of Anwar Teriaki.

The Al Hamza brothers abandoned their boxing ambitions, but Dehaini kept at it, fighting under the alias "Skinny" and moving to Sydney about a decade ago for a short time after performing well in Melbourne.

When he returned, his training at the Fighters XPress gym in Melbourne's south-east meant his links to the underworld expanded.

Before that gym was torched by arsonists and destroyed in June 2023, Dehaini trained there regularly and went on to become "very close" with one of its managers and trainers, Salim Aschna.

Aschna, who now resides abroad and runs a restaurant in Abu Dhabi, has not been charged with any criminal offences.

But he has close ties with high-profile members of the Australian underworld.

He was once photographed on board a private jet alongside Comanchero Tarek Zahed.

Once in Dubai, he was seen with a man who is now facing charges, accused over the high-profile murder of a Melbourne underworld figure several years ago.

"Huss was also training regularly at Xpress and was very close with Salim," a source with close knowledge of the pair told the ABC.

Meanwhile, Dehaini's rap sheet was developing, and by the time he was killed, an associate said he no longer resembled the "chirpy" and "charismatic" younger fighter he had met years ago.

At the time of his death, Dehaini was due to face the Melbourne Magistrates' Court on a string of alleged offences, including financial deception, conspiring to commit fraud, and driving offences.

In addition to his demeanour, Dehaini had outgrown his "Skinny" alias and sported a thick, long beard instead of his once closer shave.

"He'd had a bit of a sense of humour," the associate said.

"But he was a completely different person, he was still nice but he had a bit more of an edge to him."

While his underworld connections have provided several avenues of inquiry for homicide investigators, those who knew him say he used his imposing figure in a type of "enforcer" role.

"He was more of a soldier."

Others who knew Dehaini remembered him as "such a gentleman" who had on several occasions travelled to Thailand for holidays and for boxing training.

"I feel sorry for his family," another associate said.

Just like Sam "The Punisher" Abdulrahim following his 2025 Preston execution, Dehaini was buried at Fawkner Cemetery on Wednesday, after several days of prayer by his loved ones.

Meanwhile, homicide detectives narrowed their focus on a white suspected getaway car that was seen speeding away from North Street moments after Dehaini was gunned down, narrowly missing an innocent pedestrian during the getaway.

And on the same day Dehaini was buried, police were examining a burnt-out car found on Ironbark Road near Bacchus Marsh a day earlier. They are exploring its possible connection to the targeted hit.

And just like The Punisher's shooters, Dehaini's killers remain on the run.