{"id":667484,"date":"2026-05-13T04:41:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T04:41:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/667484\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T04:41:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T04:41:20","slug":"liam-paro-world-title-fight-liam-paro-ready-to-make-history-with-bold-state-of-origin-world-title-double-in-brisbane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/667484\/","title":{"rendered":"Liam Paro world title fight: Liam Paro ready to make history with bold State of Origin-World title double in Brisbane"},"content":{"rendered":"

Proud Queenslander Liam Paro<\/a> wants his Maroons mates to celebrate a State of Origin series victory by watching him become a two-weight world champion in Brisbane on June 24.<\/p>\n

A former leaguie from Mackay, Paro\u2019s IBF welterweight world title blockbuster against Lewis Crocker comes exactly one week after Origin II in Perth. <\/p>\n

By then, says the 30-year-old, he hopes his Queensland mates have wrapped up the series and can show out at Pat Rafter Arena for the first world title fight held in Brisbane since Jeff Horn\u2019s upset of Manny Pacquiao in 2017. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s huge, the NRL\u2019s the leading sport in Australia and I\u2019m a proud North Queenslander and we love our rugby league up there,\u201d Paro told Code Sports. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s gonna be a lot of Mackay boys representing Queensland in Origin. <\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s hope they go two from two, they\u2019ve already won the series by then and I\u2019ll just put the cherry on top by winning a world title in Brisbane.\u201d<\/p>\n

No better way than to celebrate an Origin win than with a world title victory, right? <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be unbelievable,\u201d Paro said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll have to keep it up for two weeks, then.\u201d<\/p>\n

That the world title tilt comes smack bang in the middle of an Origin series is perfect for Paro, who relied on some \u201ctrue Queensland spirit\u201d last year for his first fight under the No Limit banner. <\/p>\n

That bout \u2014 a win over Jonathan Navarro in Cairns \u2014 came a week after Dearden helped the $3.15 underdog Queenslanders pull off a remarkable series-sealing 24-22 victory in Perth. <\/p>\n

\u201cNo one gave them a chance, but the Mackay boys played well, and Tom Dearden \u2013 filling in at halfback for the first time \u2013 stepped up to the plate and had a cracker,\u201d Paro told Code Sports.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cTommy Dearden, Reuben Cotter, a lot of them are Mackay boys and I went to school with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorth Queensland produces a lot of good talent, man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paro has already pulled off an unlikely world title win of his own when he outfought the boogeyman Subriel Matias in 2024. <\/p>\n

And on June 24 he can join Jeff Fenech as the only Aussie men to win world titles in multiple weight classes.<\/p>\n

It has been a rollercoaster journey to get here though. <\/p>\n

\u2018The Prodigy\u2019 was initially scheduled to face Paddy Donovan in a world title eliminator in January, before Donovan pulled out with an illness. <\/p>\n

Crocker then picked up an injury shortly after their fight was locked in, delaying it until June 24. <\/p>\n

Paro admitted there were times he felt his world title dream had slipped away.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just didn\u2019t know when, and there were so many different dates getting thrown around,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI kind of checked out mentally when Crocker pulled out, and we\u2019d already had Donovan pull out.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d trained all through Christmas, didn\u2019t see my family up home. It was disheartening. <\/p>\n

\u201cA few weeks into camp (for Crocker) he got an injury, and at that point I said to (coach Alfie di Carlo), \u2018I need a rest\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a bit of swearing there, but mentally I wasn\u2019t at it. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe care factor was like, \u2018What is this s**t?\u2019 \u2013 it ain\u2019t good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The time away helped him reset and refocus on winning a historic second world title. <\/p>\n

\u201cI stayed active, but took a step back from boxing for the mind,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s all I needed, was time with my family, time at home and away from thinking about boxing. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt made me miss it. I love fighting. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I\u2019m in the gym I\u2019m at my happiest, so a couple of weeks away was what I needed to regain that fire.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m ready to make history.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Proud Queenslander Liam Paro wants his Maroons mates to celebrate a State of Origin series victory by watching…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667485,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[322231,2095,64,63,689,322230,802,28350,651,29637,9124,322229,2105,27662,94026,322235,2041,2067,677,46,701,99442,38711,85,16187,322234,252307,322233,2614,99450,249974,3439,2836,314379,27650,54814,322232,236960,193426],"class_list":["post-667484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-alfie-di-carlo","tag-america","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-bold-state","tag-boxing","tag-brendan-bradford","tag-brisbane","tag-cairns-convention-centre","tag-chris-hyde","tag-full-press-conferenceboxing","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-jeff-fenech","tag-jonathan-navarro","tag-multiple-weight-classes","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-perth","tag-queensland","tag-scott-davis","tag-series-victory","tag-sports","tag-title-double","tag-title-double-dream","tag-tommy-dearden","tag-two-weight-world-champion","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-welterweight-world","tag-welterweight-world-title","tag-western-australia","tag-world-title","tag-world-title-dream","tag-world-title-eliminator","tag-world-title-fight","tag-world-title-tilt","tag-world-title-victory","tag-world-title-win"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667484","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=667484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667484\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}