Horn v Zerafa: Liam Wilson wins IBF World Youth super-featherweight title

Pine Rivers young gun Liam Wilson was the toast of the boxing town last night after a gritty title win. But the blond bomber has revealed the heartache behind his stunning rise.

Pine Rivers hotshot Liam Wilson is Australian boxing’s newest star, winning the IBF World Youth super-featherweight title with a gritty unanimous decision against brave Argentinian southpaw Mauro Perouene on last night’s Horn-Zerafa card at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Queensland’s blond bomber dropped Perouene with a slashing left hook in the first round but was decked after the bell by a wild right.

Perouene showed enormous heart throughout but Wilson landed the crisper punches for 10 rounds, winning by scores of 100-89, 99-90 and 100-89.

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It was a wild battle but Wilson has had a wild ride through life.

His earliest memories are of a police chase near Kingaroy, sirens blaring, lights flashing, eyeballs bulging as his father made a run for it in an XR Falcon, pedal to the metal.

Liam Wilson of Australia knocks down Mauro Perouene of Argentina in the IBF Super Featherweight World Youth Title fight. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

There were three small children in Peter Wilson’s car, and the oldest, seven-year-old Ethan, was trying to help his dad’s getaway by throwing beer cans at the pursuit vehicle on their tail.

As they roared along a bush back road, three-year-old Liam and his twin sister Sharni were experiencing just one of the unconventional experiences they had growing up with a father who poured himself a brandy for breakfast every morning and whose relatives finally poured his ashes under a tree at Stanthorpe.

It almost broke Liam’s heart watching his dad drown in a sea of booze and he was at his bedside at a hospital in Toowoomba seven years ago as he watched his first hero go under for the last time.

“Dad was 52 when he died,’’ Liam said.

“He was a panel beater and did a bit at the Kingaroy meatworks.

Jeff Horn and Liam Wilson at the PCYC with Ascot state school kids. Picture: Annette Dew

“He’d always been a big drinker but it got worse after he split with my mum Jeanette.

“Once when I was three they had an argument and he raced away with us kids in the car only for the police to chase us down. He got 18 months in the Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre.

“When his own father passed away they let him go to the funeral but only in handcuffs.

“I came to Caboolture to live with my mum but I would spend all my holidays with Dad. It was tough watching him fall apart at the end.’’

Liam received a phone call just before his 16th birthday that his father had been flown to a hospital in Toowoomba after falling off his veranda in Kingaroy.

“His liver had shut down and pneumonia came on,’’ he said

“I spent a week up at the hospital watching him die and right at the end I promised him that I would win a world title one day in his memory.’’

Liam Wilson in 2010.

At 23 Liam is already a 13-year veteran of boxing. He is now unbeaten in five pro fights after more than 100 as an amateur.

He was already a well-established amateur boxer at 14 when he was part of a Queensland team that competed in Russia.

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Also in the side was a 21-year-old newcomer to the sport named Jeff Horn.

Perouene’s record is now 11 wins and a draw from 15 fights.

On a stacked card of great preliminary bouts last night, Horn’s southpaw team-mate Andrew Hunt scored a unanimous eight-round decision over former world title challenger Czar Amonsot, a heavy punching Filipino from Melbourne.

Melbourne super-middleweight Tej Pratap Singh scored a close decision over Renold Quinlan, who boasts a KO over former world champ Daniel Geale.