Like ‘wearing oven mitts’: champ eyes 39-year first

By MURRAY WENZEL

Liam Paro has dared champion Lewis Crocker to underestimate his power ahead of their world title fight in Brisbane, where the Australia can join elite company.

Paro will fight the Northern Irishman at Pat Rafter Arena next Wednesday, when Crocker defends his IBF welterweight belt for the first time.

Victory would make the Mackay product a two-division world champion, two years after he upset Subriel Matias in the Puerto Rican’s homeland to claim the IBF’s super-lightweight strap.

Jeff Fenech, who went on to win in four different weight classes, is the only Australian man to be a fully-fledged world champion in two weight classes of boxing’s big four organisations.

Crocker (22-0, 11 knockouts) has been all business since arriving in Brisbane two weeks ago, but rates himself the more powerful man and capable of ending Wednesday’s contest early.

Lewis Crocker is confident he can out-punch Liam Paro. (Matchroom Boxing/AAP PHOTOS)

Paro, who boasts 16 stoppages in a 27-1 career, said it would be foolish to underestimate his power, particularly since multiple setbacks delayed their fight and allowed him to fill into the heavier weight.

“At the world level everyone can punch in eight ounce gloves; we’re pretty much wearing oven mitts in there,” Paro said.

“So he’ll be surprised … it doesn’t look like I whack hard until you get on the receiving end of it.

“Ask anyone that’s been in (the ring with me) and they’ll tell you.

“I’m here to prove him wrong.”

Fenech won the WBC’s super bantamweight title in 1987 to become a multiple-division world champion before adding two more – the last awarded retrospectively in in 2022 – in his storied career.

“It’s crazy; 39 years since a male from Australia has won multiple division titles and we’re a week away from making it a reality,” Paro said.

“But until then it’s just all talk.”

Paro was flanked by Queensland State of Origin great Greg Inglis outside Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday, the boxer thrilled to link up with the founder of the Indigenous-led mental health and resilience training program, Goanna Academy.

Liam Paro has Greg Inglis in his corner ahead of next week’s world title fight. (Murray Wenzel/AAP)

“It’s unbelievable to work with a legend like Greg Inglis and anyone that knows me, knows mental health is something that’s very close to home,” he said.

Paro’s close friend Regan Grieve, a promising rugby league player, took his own life in 2015.

“It was the hardest period of my life. That was my best mate, we used to talk about everything,” Paro said.

“It just shows how serious it is.”

Inglis said the Academy’s motto was to “stick with it” and that Paro’s journey to the cusp of Australian boxing history embodied that.

Liam Paro and Greg Inglis delivered a mental health message on Wednesday. (Darren England/AAP PHOTOS)

“Boxing, it takes a lot of guts; just you and another person in the ring,” he said.

“It can be a lonely sport, but they have friends in their corners to talk to.

“Speaking to Liam, I got a sense of the kind of man he is and his values align with the academy’s and mine and I can’t wait to watch him step into the ring walk out with the belt.”
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