{"id":697417,"date":"2026-05-27T07:43:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T07:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/697417\/"},"modified":"2026-05-27T07:43:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T07:43:14","slug":"hes-special-jeff-fenech-names-australias-next-world-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/697417\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cHe\u2019s special\u201d: Jeff Fenech names Australia\u2019s next world champion"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia\u2019s greatest boxer has thrown his full support behind one of its most talented stars, with Jeff Fenech<\/a> declaring Liam Paro is set to join him as the country\u2019s only two-weight male world champions. <\/p>\n

Paro is deep in training camp for his June 24 IBF welterweight world title challenge<\/a> against unbeaten Northern Irishman Lewis Crocker in Brisbane. <\/p>\n

A victory would make the 27-1 Paro Australia\u2019s only reigning male world champion and allow him to join Fenech as the only men in Aussie boxing history to claim world championships in two different weight classes. <\/p>\n

Fenech has a long relationship with Paro\u2019s trainer Alfie di Carlo and promoter Ange di Carlo, making \u201cThe Prodigy\u2019s\u201d rise even sweeter. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always thought Liam was special, right from the early days,\u201d Fenech told Code Sports. \u201cHe went overseas to Puerto Rico and beat Subriel Matias in his own backyard<\/a> \u2013 somewhere nobody wins.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk about great wins, and that was one of the best ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a great relationship with the di Carlo family, and Alfie and Ange always said how great he was going to be. <\/p>\n

\u201cI wish we could get a hundred of them. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut this one is going to be special because of my relationship with the di Carlos.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite knowing from early on how good Paro was, Fenech says he was still surprised at just how much dynamite he packs into each punch when he trained Brock Jarvis against the southpaw in 2022. <\/p>\n

In that fight in Brisbane, Paro made a huge statement, knocking the highly touted Jarvis out inside one round. <\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, when he fought Brock, I thought one of our great advantages was that he wasn\u2019t a big puncher,\u201d Fenech said. \u201cBut with his speed and his precision, he shocked me.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe shocked everybody, and he\u2019s continued to do that. It wasn\u2019t a fluke. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s very skilful, and has a great eye. He can control the distance of a fight, he can be there, make you miss and make you pay. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s just got better and better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paro is blown away when Code Sports tells him about Fenech\u2019s comments. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat means the world, it truly does,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s the greatest fighter we\u2019ve ever had in this country.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd not only that, he\u2019s the greatest rated featherweight with the WBC. That\u2019s over the likes of Erik Morales, Marco Antonio Barrera and the list goes on. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s crazy. To be in the same sentence and to have the support of someone like Jeff Fenech is truly humbling. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt just lights that fire even more to be able to join him at that level.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m getting goosebumps just talking about it. It\u2019s crazy that it\u2019s so close to being a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paro has four more weeks of serious training before his shot at Crocker, who is scheduled to land in Australia next week. <\/p>\n

And the 30-year-old has been getting sparring in with some of the best boxers in the country as he prepares to make history. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m feeling really good, I\u2019ve been going 12 rounds sparring with two different opponents,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve had Jason Malia and Cesar Afacan up from Melbourne. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got Marco Romeo coming up from Sydney as well and Kyron Dryden as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great to give them an opportunity to come into camp, and they\u2019ve helped us a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re keeping me honest and they\u2019ve all got different styles too. They all bring something different, which is good because we know Crocker has changed up his style a bit as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives us more of a look at different styles and I\u2019ll be ready for whatever he\u2019s got.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s greatest boxer has thrown his full support behind one of its most talented stars, with Jeff Fenech…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":697418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[322231,2095,64,63,689,2802,802,2831,28350,651,72,29629,168557,2105,339990,27662,339993,339991,193429,647,673,2041,2067,677,41634,701,6282,85,670,339992,322233,2614,660,61531,249974,2753,25247],"class_list":["post-697417","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-australian-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-boxing-history","tag-brendan-bradford","tag-brisbane","tag-cairns","tag-emily-barker","tag-erik-morales","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-jason-malia","tag-jeff-fenech","tag-knockout-win","tag-male-world-champions","tag-marco-romeo","tag-melbourne","tag-new-south-wales","tag-north-america","tag-northern-america","tag-oceania","tag-puerto-rico","tag-queensland","tag-russell-freeman","tag-sports","tag-sydney","tag-two-weight-male-world","tag-two-weight-world-champion","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-victoria","tag-weight-classes","tag-welterweight-world-title","tag-world-champion","tag-world-championships"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697417","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=697417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}