Meanwhile, Jeff Fenech – who Paro joins as the only Australian men to win world titles in multiple weight classes – says his unanimous decision victory is one of the greatest in boxing history in this country.
Paro was forced to go to dark places, fighting through swelling under his right eye and a sickening cut on his left eye as Crocker staged a stirring comeback in the second half of their 12-round battle at Pat Rafter Arena.
“We’re not playing marbles, we’re in there fighting,” Paro said of the cuts around his eye.
“It was a little love tap, it’s good – the missus loves it. It was a head clash in the heat of battle.
“I didn’t know the state of it, but when I saw the claret that was spraying around everywhere I thought it must be half decent.”
The last world class pay-per-view event held in Brisbane ended with Michael Zerafa’s infamous “I can’t see” no contest against Nikita Tszyu in January, but Paro was determined not to have his own shot at history end the same way.
Expert Queensland doctor James Conville inspected the bloody cut around “The Prodigy’s” eye, but allowed him to finish the fight and join Fenech as a two-weight world champion.
“The doc stitched it up now, and it’s another battle scar – chicks dig scars,” Paro said.
“My eye was blurry a little bit – there was blood in it.
“You don’t think too much, I just had to fight my way out of there, otherwise I’d end up on the canvas.
“It’s the heat of battle. I just tried to crack him back, there wasn’t much going through my brain, just fight.”
Fenech, who has known Paro for years and is close with his trainer Alfi di Carlo and Alfie’s dad, Ange, was full of praise for the Queenslander after his stirring victory.
“For his name to join mine, it means a lot to me,” Fenech, who is training Tim Tszyu for his must-win showdown with Errol Spence, told Code Sports.
“He’s a beautiful human and to me, that’s more than boxing.
“To have a great person’s name besides mine, it means more.
“He’s a great human and he’s worked his ass off to get where he is.
“All the adversity and everything with the cut – that was one of the great performances in Australian boxing.
“Those two guys went out and fought like they would die for it. It was incredible.
“He’s very, very special and he deserves to be where he is, which is right at the top of the list of Australian fighters.”
Paro’s win sees him in prime position to bring some of the biggest names to Australia for even bigger fights in the future.
That’s what his promoter, No Limit will work towards next.
“Devin Haney, Rolly Romero, Ryan Garcia, I would love to have any of them down here any day of the week,” No Limit boss George Rose said.
“They’ve even tossed up the likes of Manny Pacquiao who’s still floating around the welterweight division.
“That would be great to bring that down here as well.
“Off the back of that performance tonight, I’d feel confident in any one of those names.
“That was one of the bravest performances that we’ve seen from an Australian fighter.
“Liam Paro showed he truly is at an elite level. He showed his boxing skillset, his toughness and that true Aussie underdog spirit and grit.
“Australians are often underdogs in taking on the rest of the world and I couldn’t be more proud of him.
“Liam Paro is not only one of the greatest Australian boxers of all time, but one of the greatest Australian sportsmen of all time.”