Liam Paro has eyes on world junior-welterweight belt after beating tough Korean Hwang Kil Kim
Rising Aussie star Liam Paro looks to have earned a world junior-welterweight title shot in 2020 after seeing off tough Korean Hwang Kil Kim in a fight he was forced to ‘dig really deep’.
Boxing/MMA
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With his badly swollen left hand in a bucket of ice and a sense of pained relief across his boyish face, Queensland’s world No. 2 Liam Paro says he is all set to become world junior-welterweight champion in 2020.
Paro, 23, now unbeaten in 18 pro fights, scored the biggest win of his career on Friday night, outhustling the bulldozing Korean Hwang Kil Kim in a 10-round slugfest at the Eatons Hill Hotel.
Judges awarded the Korean only two of the 10 rounds but for the whole fight he pushed Paro to the limit.
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“That was an absolute war,’’ Paro said.
“He tested my toughness and fitness all night. He just kept coming, no matter how many times I landed punches and he made me dig really deep. Thankfully I came out the other side with the win and I will only get better as a fighter because of it.’’
Also, on Friday night’s card, Paro’s team-mate Justin Frost, a seven-year Army veteran, won the national junior-welterweight title with a unanimous decision over Olympian Jackson Woods, nullifying the Tasmanian’s slick movement and lunging punches with constant pressure and a tight defence.
It was a great night for trainer Alfie Di Carlo who coaches both undefeated winners.
He said Paro would not fight again until March by which time he was likely to be rated the No. 1 contender for the WBO world title.
“Liam and Frosty fought brilliantly,’’ Di Carlo said.
“Not many fighters would have been able to withstand the pressure the Korean brought to the fight while Frosty was able to negate all the experience and awkward movement of a very skilled Olympian.’’
Frost, 27, who hoped the fight would draw attention to the scourge of suicide among former Australian military personnel, dedicated the win to his best mate Joel Clifton, another army veteran, who died last year aged just 29.
Paro went into the fight bearing the initials “RG’’ on his trunks in tribute to his friend Regan Grieve, a budding Mackay football star who took his own life at 18.
Also on Friday night, world No. 15 Jacob Ng, a lanky lightweight from the Gold Coast, stopped Thailand’s Krai Setthaphon in three rounds.
World No. 14 heavyweight Demsey McKean, revving up for a proposed March battle with Australia’s former world champ Lucas Browne, also stopped late replacement Scott Belshaw in the third.
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