Liam Paro began his year expecting either a big fight or a return home while waiting out an owed title shot.
Little did he know that he would get both in one fell swoop.
The unbeaten WBO junior welterweight mandatory challenger is set for an all-domestic clash with Brock Jarvis in a ten-round battle of unbeaten Australians. The bout headlines the debut of Matchroom Boxing’s Australia launch, airing live on DAZN (Saturday, 4:00 a.m. ET) from South Bank Piazza in South Brisbane. What was thought to be a solid matchup atop an intriguing event has since taken on a life on its own with the local market.
“I’m actually excited for this,” Paro told BoxingScene.com. “It’s turned out to be a massive domestic fight. I haven’t had a domestic fight in over a year, I was on the road chasing world rankings. But it’s really become a big event.
It’s huge. For Eddie Hearn and Matchroom to come here was so big.”
Brisbane’s Paro (22-0, 13KOs) has not fought since a ten-round win over Yomar Alamo in their ten-round battle of unbeaten contenders last December 18 in Tampa, Florida. The bout marked his U.S. debut for the 26-year-old southpaw as well as positioning to next contend for the WBO 140-pound title, whether against current titlist Josh Taylor (19-0, 13KOs) or for the vacant belt should the unbeaten Scot move up to welterweight next year.
The hope was to remain active while landing his first career title fight. It didn’t quite work out that way, with his shoulder tapped to help launch DAZN’s first event on Australian soil though with the show pushed back a month later than its originally targeted time frame.
The silver lining is that Paro lands a high profile fight, one where many experts have Marrickville’s Jarvis (20-0, 18KOs)—who is fighting in his fifth weight division in as many fights—bumping off the high-ranking contender. Jarvis has not fought since his own U.S. debut last October, scoring a fifth round knockout of Alejandro Frias in a lightweight bout after a one-fight stop at 130 last April.
“I was definitely surprised at the start that this fight is taking place, but they pushed very hard for this fight,” noted Paro. “They’re confident they can get it done against me. I feel like they’re taking shortcuts. If they’re confident they can get it done, I look forward to taking him down.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox