, Paro then doubled down and accused Haney of deliberately ducking the unification showdown<\/a>, revealing: \u201cI\u2019ve said I\u2019m good to fight and we ain\u2019t heard a thing\u201d.<\/p>\nWhile the two camps had initially discussed an October showdown, it now appears the bout will take place shortly before Christmas.<\/p>\n
For Paro, a Haney fight – most likely staged in the United States – will represent the first defence of the IBF welterweight crown won against Lewis Crocker in June.<\/p>\n
Initially, US reports suggested Paro was pricing himself out of the fight by demanding too much via promoters No Limit, with Haney then linked to bouts against Englishman Jack Catterall and Shakur Stevenson.<\/p>\n
Devin Haney.Source: AFP<\/p>\n
Around that time, former world champion Timothy Bradley even suggested Paro was ducking Haney by asking for too much money.<\/p>\n
\u201cDid Liam Paro price himself out? Is that another form of duck?\u201d Bradley asked, before then answering his own question with: \u201cThat\u2019s another form of ducking right there.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, Paro strenuously denied pricing himself out of the contest, and instead said it was Haney who was deliberately avoiding him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaney is ducking me,\u201d Paro told Fox Sports Australia. \u201cI\u2019ve said I\u2019m good to fight by the end of October, and we ain\u2019t heard a thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pushed on his desire to fight Haney next, the popular Queenslander continued: \u201cI\u2019ll fight him next no worries.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know I\u2019ll fight anyone. And I\u2019ve proved that my whole career. I\u2019ll fight him in his backyard or mine. I\u2019m the IBF welterweight champion. This is a big unification fight with a lot on the line.\u201d<\/p>\n
No Limit promoter George Rose also confirmed his client wants the Haney fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have plans in place for Liam and, originally, Haney wasn\u2019t in those,\u201d he explained. \u201cBut after speaking with Team Paro, they\u2019ve indicated to us that if we can get the right deal done, it\u2019s the big fight they want.<\/p>\n
\u201cParo versus Haney is a big fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tszyu targets Lara world title fight | 00:58<\/p>\n
Only weeks ago, Paro went and called out both Haney and fellow American superstar Ryan Garcia via social media.<\/p>\n
Writing on \u2018X\u2019, the champ fired: \u201cRyan Garcia says I\u2019m \u2018renting\u2019 the IBF belt, while Haney fans say I\u2019m ducking Devin or pricing myself out.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere\u2019s the truth \u2014 I\u2019ve accepted BOTH fights. My team has been reasonable on the money and I\u2019ll fight either man any day of the week. I\u2019m a proven two-division world champion. I don\u2019t duck anybody.<\/p>\n
\u201c@Realdevinhaney \u2014 you want to unify? Let\u2019s do it.<\/p>\n
\u201c@RyanGarcia \u2014 if I\u2019m renting this belt, come and take the f***ing keys.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnough talk. Send the contract. Pick the date. I\u2019ll be there.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Haney, the fight will be his first since becoming a three-division world in November last year, when he claimed the WBO belt via a strong decision win over Brian Norman Jr.<\/p>\n
Most recently, Haney been in discussions to face WBO super lightweight champ Shakur Stevenson.<\/p>\n
That fight never eventuated however, with the camps arguing over weight and rehydration clauses before Stevenson also suddenly got a release from his Zuffa Boxing contract.<\/p>\n
Paro, meanwhile, joined Australia\u2019s elite club of multiple division world champions when he beat Crocker by unanimous decision in June.<\/p>\n
The win was the Queenslander\u2019s third straight since losing his IBF 140-pound title to Richardson Hitchins in 2024.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s Liam Paro has reportedly agreed to a blockbuster unification title fight against American superstar Devin Haney, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":942552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-942551","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942551","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942551"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942551\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/942552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942551"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942551"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942551"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Liam](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/9f63a73ce7d2df2cd86fec2226b6e76f.jpeg\")
Liam Paro will put his IBF welterweight title on the line.Source: Supplied<\/p>\n