Promoter Eddie Hearn hopes to get a big name for Liam Paro’s first defense of his newly won IBF light welterweight title after dethroning champion Subriel Matias last Saturday night in Puerto Rico.
The Dream Opponents
Hearn says he’d like to match Paro (25-0, 15 KOs) against one of these four fighters next:
– Ryan Garcia
– Isaac Cruz
– Teofimo Lopez
– Richardson Hitchins
Hearn wants one of those four fighters to come to Australia to fight Paro on his home turf, but that doesn’t sound realistic. Hitchins, the IBF mandatory, is Hearn’s best bet of the four because he’s not going to get Teofimo, Ryan, or Cruz to agree to come to Australia.
Hearn should focus on WBC light welterweight champion Devin Haney or Jack Catterall. Haney has twice traveled to Australia to defeat George Kambosos Jr., and he might not have any issues with going there for a fight against Paro.
Paro’s Fighting Style
Paro will need to clean up his fighting style if he wants to get any of the popular fighters to agree to fight him. In his win over Matias (20-2, 20 KOs), he used a lot of roughouse tactics. He threw rabbit punches, used illegal stiff arms, pushed off, and clinched excessively.
Teofimo, Cruz, and Ryan aren’t going to want to travel to Australia if they think there’s a good chance they’re going to be roughed up and held all night by Paro. It would only make sense for them to go to Australia if Paro is going to clean up his game, and a good referee is on duty that night to control his roughouse tactics.
“You’ve got Ryan Garcia, Pitbull Cruz, Teofimo Lopez, Richardson Hitchins,” said promoter Eddie Hearn about some of the names he’d like to match against newly crowned IBF light welterweight champion Liam Paro.
“What happened happened,” said Subriel Matias when asked if he wished he had fought more when being clinched a lot by Paro. “I felt at times I was getting through when I hit him, and I was sure that he felt the shots because he smiled at me. When someone smiles at you, it’s a sign, ‘Yeah, you got me.’”
“There’s a mandatory due to the champion. So, we have to see if that’s possible,” said Hearn when asked if a rematch were possible for Matias against Paro. “I think Subriel would love a rematch. He has to see if he can try and get a shot at the championship again.”
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