Australia’s Liam Paro is to pursue the IBF welterweight title set to be contested by Lewis Crocker and Paddy Donovan after committing to fighting at 147lbs.
The 29 year old stopped Jonathan Navarro in June in the first fight of his agreement with his new promoters No Limit, seven months after sacrificing the IBF junior-welterweight when losing to Richardson Hitchins and recording his first ever defeat.
After extending that agreement with No Limit he has chosen against pursuing an eliminator for his former title to instead prioritise establishing himself in the heavier weight division.
The IBF’s title became vacant when Jaron “Boots” Ennis moved up to junior middleweight and Paro – according to his promoter partly enticed by potential contests with Rolando Romero and Ryan Garcia – hopes to pursue the winner of the rematch between Crocker and Donovan in Belfast, Northern Ireland on September 13.
“He’ll still ranked well in the IBF, but he’s got a fantastic record,” George Rose told BoxingScene. “He could compete in both the WBA and WBC as well – they’re both great opportunities for him as well. Where he sits, the IBF would be his obvious choice in moving up.
“He was great at junior welterweight – he was fantastic at that weight as well. But he fought heavier recently and felt really comfortable, and there’s some great fights at welterweight still. The junior welterweight division really excited me but a lot of the guys who were exciting opportunities in that division also moved up to welterweight too, like ‘Rolly’ Romero and Ryan Garcia – a couple of huge names. It’s an exciting opportunity. The welterweight division is there for the taking too. There’s some great fights, and some real opportunities for Paro – his style really works at that weight.
“‘Boots’ moving up does open the welterweight division all over again. We’re experiencing it a little bit with Sam Goodman at super bantamweight, with [Naoya] Inoue controlling that division – you end up sitting if you miss your opportunity. With ‘Boots’ moving out of welterweight it opens that division up. There’s some really exciting fights that can be had at that weight.”
Paro, 26-1 (16 KOs), as particularly demonstrated in successive victories over Montana Love and then Subriel Matias – the latter earning him his title – was a physically strong junior welterweight and potentially sacrifices that by committing to a division in which Brian Norman Jnr and Devin Haney are widely considered the very best.
“It’s a huge risk,” Rose recognized. “Anybody who’s shooting for world titles and shooting for fights at that level, you’re taking a massive risk, because you’re looking to be one of one; the best of the best. No matter what division you’re in, when you’re shooting for a world title that’s a huge risk that you may come up short, but that’s the beauty of what these guys do. They take those risks and they chase those chances to be great; to be the one. That’s what I love about Liam – he wants to be that one. He wants to take that risk. He wants to chase that chance. I don’t think him fighting at welterweight means that he won’t be able to come back to junior welterweight. He can still make the weight. But while there’s a chance to chase greatness at welterweight, he absolutely wants to do it.”
Paro’s former promoters Matchroom had previously explored him defending his title in Australia against his compatriot George Kambosos Jnr.
Kambosos Jnr lost when moving up from lightweight to challenge Hitchins, and at 32 has suggested that after a fine career he may have fought for the last time.
Paro, similarly, recently spoke of Kambosos Jnr like the prospect of fighting him no longer appealed to him, but Rose – whose organisation No Limit is competing in Australia with the ambitious association between Matchroom and Tasman Fighters – refused to rule it out.
“If he had to go down to junior welter to fight Kambosos he’d do it,” he said. “It’d be a great fight for Australian boxing. It’d be very big here in Australia. It’s one that we can definitely put on another great show for. I don’t think that it’s one that George would take, but if Liam wins a world title that could change his opinion and open that door for that opportunity. It would be a really, really good fight here in Australia. I know that we could do well with it, and it would be a great match-up for Liam Paro. It would be very much in his favor.
“I don’t know if [Kambosos] will [fight again]. What he’s achieved in the sport, he’s been a world champion; he’s been in some big-money fights. I really don’t know if he will. Where do you go for your next fight after everything he’s experienced? What’s happened to him when he’s taken on them big names – it’s a big decision for him, but if he doesn’t fight again, he got to be a world champion. For a young Aussie kid to go on and become a world champion, that’s huge. We’re always underdogs over here, so anyone who makes it to the top like that, it’s been a great career.”
