Whitehead was outgunned by the 216cm New Zealand-based American, losing a unanimous point’s decision at the Battle on the Goldfields event.

It was the former Australian heavyweight champion and Commonwealth Games bronze medallist’s first loss in seven professional fights.

The fight was 44 year-old Whitehead's second since making a comeback to the sport earlier this year after a near five-year hiatus.

Such was Long's dominance, judges scored him the winner of five of the six rounds, with Whitehead producing his best boxing in round four.

Promoter Lynden Hosking said he was yet to speak to Whitehead about his future, but believed he would likely take some time to consider his next move.

"I think he'll take a bit of a break and reassess - at the end of the day he is 44 years old.

"He'll think about it and talk with his team and decide what he is going to do.

"It was a tough night for him. Julius was just a bit big and strong and experienced.

"He didn't have a great record leading up to it, but he turned up for this fight in red-hot shape.

"He lost about 20 odds kilos, so he obviously set himself for the fight and he took it out on Justin.”

The win advanced Long’s career record to 17 wins, 19 losses, with the bulk of his defeats coming against world top 10 ranked opponents.

A colossal night of boxing was highlighted by wins to Bendigo boxers Brad Morgan, Matt Hall and Damien Lock.

The trio were all making their professional in-ring debut.

Morgan was named ‘fighter of the night’ for his round one knockdown win against Joel Bennett.

Fellow Connolly’s gym-trained fighter Hall could not have been more impressive in outlasting fellow debutante Greg ‘Hell’s’ Bell from Warrnambool over four rounds.

“He had a really good win, he’s improved a lot for a young kid,” Hosking said.

“He’s only 19 and looked real good.”

Perhaps the most popular winner of the night was Lock, who had the best of his light heavyweight battle against Seymour’s Bradley Weire.

Fellow Bendigo boxer Scott Tuddenham emerged with a draw in his light heavyweight bout against Anthony Corless.

Battle on the Goldfields was the first professional boxing event run in Bendigo for more than a decade.

The promoter said he was keen to stage more shows in the region.

“I was really happy with the way the show went, we got raving reviews from the sanctioning bodies and the combat board,” Hosking said.

Interested onlookers at Bendigo Stadium included former world champions Barry Michael and Sam Soliman.