Paro reveals big dreams for world stage | 06:35<\/p>\n
Only months after signing on with No Limit, Paro is only days away from a hyped IBF world title eliminator — challenging France\u2019s David Papot in Brisbane next Thursday night.<\/p>\n
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After winning the IBF super lightweight crown in early 2024, and then losing to Hitchins, Paro still initially looked set to again chase greatness at 140 pounds \u2013 the same division where Hall of Famer Kostya Tszyu famously starred.<\/p>\n
However, the Mackay southpaw has now explained how the increasing stresses of making weight \u2013 and potentially deadly repercussions \u2013 played a role in his decision to move up.<\/p>\n
While the Queenslander won a June catchweight bout against American Jonathan Navarro, his world title loss against Hitchins last December was, he says now, the worst cut of his life.<\/p>\n
Before revealing the story, however, Paro stressed that he did not want to be seen as creating a cop out for the loss, his first after upsetting Puerto Rico\u2019s Subriel Matias for the crown.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo first off, absolutely no excuses,\u201d Paro said. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut that cut I had for Hitchins \u2026 hands down, the hardest of my life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was in the sauna for four hours before making weight.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd yeah, things got real hectic.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the first 40 minutes, I\u2019d barely broken a sweat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was just no fluid coming out.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut my head, it was cooking.<\/p>\n
Boxer Liam Paro prepares for his fight at Pat Rafter Arena on Sep 18 with a session at the venue. Boxer Liam Paro. Picture: Nigel HallettSource: News Corp Australia<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I was brought out, wrapped in towels, laid down.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we kept going back inside for as long as I could take \u2013 10 or 15 minutes at a time, in and out.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe kept a chair literally one step outside the sauna door, that\u2019s all the energy I had …\u201d<\/p>\n
Pushed on the torturous cut, Paro continued: \u201cYour head cooks, you see stars.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, you can feel your heart beating through your ears.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen eventually, your voice goes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember my eyes were gone, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s complete depletion.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn that moment you\u2019re so dry, you feel like if you were to run your joints would snap.\u201d<\/p>\n
So bad was that cut, Paro admitted to having concerns way beyond how it was affecting his performances.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause unfortunately you do see fatalities in the ring,\u201d he continued. \u201cEspecially in the lighter divisions, from fighters having cut too much weight.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fluid around the brain goes, and that\u2019s your shock absorber.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd while you don\u2019t want to think negatively about these things, I was just too depleted.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn boxing, you\u2019re already risking your life every time you step into a ring.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I just didn\u2019t have enough time to rehydrate.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was getting to the point where a day wasn\u2019t enough for me to replenish, or not if I wanted to fight to the best of my ability.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I really didn\u2019t want anything bad happening due to me not rehydrating enough in 24 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite switching weight classes, Paro has gone immediately into a world title eliminator.<\/p>\n
The move opens up a huge range of possibilities for the Australian, including a shot at Pacquiao \u2013 an idea he first voiced to Fox Sports Australia way back in May.<\/p>\n
Peters suffers upset loss | 01:02<\/p>\n
As part of his first welterweight camp, Paro has also noticed incredible changes, both inside the ring and out.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d been fighting as a super lightweight since I was 18,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019m 29 now.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy body is developing, I\u2019m just getting my man strength, hitting my peak.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo moving to welterweight, I\u2019m going to be a lot fresher in the ring.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a no brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n
So as for how he feels now entering fight week?<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, I\u2019ve been fueling up the whole time,\u201d he grinned.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m moving up 3.2 kilos, which is a lot in boxing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose three kilos are what I would\u2019ve been killing myself in the sauna to lose.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I feel unreal.\u201d<\/p>\n
And as for Papot, who is undefeated through 31 professional fights?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a puzzle that hasn\u2019t yet been solved,\u201d the Aussie said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I\u2019ll be the guy who does it.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, he\u2019s slippery, crafty, but we\u2019ve got the tools to get this done.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout sounding too cocky, he hasn\u2019t faced anyone on my level.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s Liam Paro has revealed growing fears around his insane weight cuts \u2014 which included potentially dying in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[2095,64,63,689,24916,802,651,94033,89006,2057,2755,2592,2105,94030,94031,94022,94024,94028,19052,94026,94027,2795,94019,2782,94025,2041,2067,677,28365,41634,701,94020,37653,94023,94017,85,94029,94015,94016,17599,2614,94032,94018,2062,94021,63432,2836,28370,27650,43767],"class_list":["post-136557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-america","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-star","tag-boxing","tag-brisbane","tag-concerns-way","tag-david-papot","tag-europe","tag-florida","tag-france","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-growing-fears","tag-head-cooks","tag-heart-beating","tag-horror-weight-cut","tag-insane-weight-cuts","tag-jonathan-brown","tag-jonathan-navarro","tag-man-strength","tag-manny-pacquiao","tag-mike-ehrmann","tag-nick-walshaw","tag-nigel-hallett","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-professional-fights","tag-puerto-rico","tag-queensland","tag-rolly-romero","tag-ryan-garcia","tag-sauna-door","tag-shock-career-decision","tag-sports","tag-super-lightweight","tag-super-lightweight-division","tag-switching-weight-classes","tag-tampa","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-weekends-fight","tag-weight-cuts","tag-western-europe","tag-win-putting","tag-world-boxing-championships","tag-world-title","tag-world-title-contention","tag-world-title-eliminator","tag-world-title-loss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}