New champ Liam Paro was ‘terrified’ his career was over

Liam Paro has opened up on the “terrifying” time in his life that he feared for his career.

The Australian, 28, in June produced what is certain to be remembered as one of the upsets of 2024 when, as the significant underdog, he travelled to Puerto Rico to dethrone Subriel Matias as the IBF junior welterweight champion.

His initial world-title fight came a year after he had been scheduled to enter his first, in New Orleans against the then-WBC champion Regis Prograis – an opportunity ultimately denied him by an Achilles tendon injury sufficiently serious that at his lowest point Paro believed he may already have fought for the final time and made enquiries about jobs in one of Queensland’s mines.

Furthering his disillusionment, he not only watched Prograis struggle that night, but Danielito Zorrilla – his replacement as challenger – fight only to survive. Prograis then struggled again when he fought and lost to Devin Haney in December 2023, when Paro, who impressed in stopping Montana Love on the undercard that night in San Francisco, could again only watch and wonder what might have been.

“It’s crazy,” Paro told BoxingScene. “A year ago – pretty much – I was injured. There was a lot of uncertainty, and it was a pretty dark time in my career. It was two injuries back to back. You’re never prepared for that. Until you’ve been taken away – from something out of your control – it was scary. 

“But it just shows – in time, one year, I’m now champion of the world. It’s crazy. It spins you out, but I think it’s just gonna make better chapters of the book. When it’s all said and done, it just shows that it’s not all smooth sailing – we’re gonna go through rough times and it’s just how you handle it. It lit the fire in my belly again – getting dragged away from what I love. I think in a way it was just the world preparing me for this. I’ve really seen how much I love it.

“I was asking my mates up in north Queensland about the mines, and jobs like that. It was just the uncertainty that scared me the most. It’s always in the back of your head, but when it’s there, it’s scary. You’re in a dark place, and you’re not ready for it to end like that. I still had so much to do, and I had the title on the line. It was a lot of emotion, and I was lucky to have my family – my loved ones – around us. 

“A major sponsor – I told him I was looking at the mines, and he was like, ‘There’s no way’, so he helped me out. Anything I needed to get me through those times. All I can say, it was dark. It was really dark. 

“I’m a very positive person, but it’s to the point where – it’s just real. It seems so real, and you just try and get your head around everything. I just keep going back to the uncertainty, which was scary. You just had no idea how it was gonna happen. With the Achilles, too, it was a slight tear – I was lucky enough that I didn’t have to have surgery. If I’d had to have surgery it’d have been two years before I’d walk again. The Achilles isn’t a little injury, so it was scary. I’ll admit it – it was terrifying.”

It is little exaggeration to say that not only Paro’s career, but his life has been transformed. His promoter, Eddie Hearn of Matchroom, on Thursday spoke of his desire to stage the first defence of his title in his home city of Brisbane or in Sydney in November – potentially against the winner of Jack Catterall-Prograis on August 24.

“It was hard,” Paro continued of his presence on the undercard of Prograis-Haney. “It was a hard one to swallow. It was so close – my dream was right there. It was signed; sealed. I was in preparation for it, and it just got taken away. 

“It was crazy. It spins me out now – now, I’m in the driver’s seat, just a year later. That’s what people don’t see about boxing. It’s how cut-throat it is. We put our bodies through the ringer for the entertainment of the fans. It’s the stuff they don’t see – that kind of stuff. The injuries, and what goes on behind the scenes. But it was crazy. It’s still spinning me out now. It’s just crazy how things happen. In just a year’s time, the whole world’s changed.”