Liam Paro signed his life away when he agreed to travel to Puerto Rico to challenge IBF junior welterweight titleholder Subriel Matias in his home country. That’s if social media is to be believed, anyway. The 28-year-old Australian southpaw was undefeated but unranked by The Ring.
He had boxed just twice in the previous two-and-a-half years – a first-round blowout of former bantamweight Brock Jarvis and a sixth-round knockout of fringe contender Montana Love. Consensus opinion was that he was out of his depth and far from home, unlikely to get any favors from the judges if he miraculously made it that far. Matias’ reputation preceded him.
The formidable puncher had won all bar one of his fights, with every victory coming via knockout. The lone blemish on his ledger was a close decision loss to Petros Ananyan. He avenged that defeat in brutal fashion, delivering a nine-round beatdown.
The ferocious power and high punch output of The Ring’s number three contender didn’t exactly have suitors queueing up a mile deep to face him. The prospect of facing a Puerto Rican in Puerto Rico did nothing to sweeten the deal either. But Paro leapt at the opportunity.
“I’ve always been good at zoning in and blocking out the noise,” said Paro (25-0, 15 KOs) in an exclusive interview with The Ring about his unanimous decision victory over Matias at Coliseo Juan Aubin Cruz Abreu in Manati on June 15. “We had a job to do and we had our minds on our job. We had a game plan that m.