Liam Paro perceives Richardson Hitchins’ incessant trash talk the byproduct of nervous energy, evidence that Hitchins realizes he is in for the most difficult fight of his seven-year professional boxing career Saturday night.
Among Hitchins’ criticisms of how Paro performed during a career-changing upset of Subriel Matias in his last fight is that the stout southpaw held the hard-hitting Puerto Rican knockout artist entirely too much. Australia’s Paro is much more concerned with holding on to the IBF junior welterweight title he won from Matias when he makes a mandatory defense of it against Hitchins.
The Brisbane-based Paro hopes to avoid the trend among Australian underdogs who lost their titles soon after knocking off heavily favored fighters.
Brisbane’s Jeff Horn, who infamously defeated Filipino legend Manny Pacquiao in July 2017, lost the WBO welterweight title two fights later to a dominant Terence Crawford in June 2018. Sydney’s George Kambosos ambitiously boxed Devin Haney in his first fight after a stunning, split-decision victory over Teofimo Lopez in November 2021, but Haney easily out-pointed Kambosos in a pair of 12-rounders that took place four months apart in 2022.
Unlike Horn and Kambosos, who respectively opposed Pacquiao and Haney on Australian soil, Paro must win a second straight title fight in Puerto Rico on Saturday night to secure an opportunity to return to his homeland for another championship match in his first fight of 2025.
Eddie Hearn — whose company, Matchroom Boxing, co-promotes Paro and Kambosos — wants to match them in what would be a very rare title fight among Australians. If Paro (25-0, 15 KOs) conquers the unbeaten Hitchins (18-0, 7 KOs) in a main event inside Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan (7 p.m. ET, DAZN), Kambosos would then need to defeat an opponent to be announced sometime in February to transform a proposed Paro-Kambosos bout into reality.
“You know, we got a lot of good current champions [in Australia],” Paro told Uncrowned. “To keep my reign as current champion, it’s huge. It means a lot, especially if you wanna have those massive homecoming fights in Australia next year. They’re definitely gonna have more pulling power with this belt. So, it’s very important, not only to me, but to all of Australian boxing, to keep winning these big fights and getting those big fights over to Australia next year.”
Paro’s performance Saturday night became even more important in his home country after perhaps its most popular boxer, Tim Tszyu, suffered a devastating defeat Oct. 17 in Orlando, Florida.
Sydney’s Tszyu (24-2, 17 KOs), a son of legendary former junior welterweight champ Kostya Tszyu, entered the ring a 7-1 favorite to beat IBF junior middleweight champ Bakhram Murtazaliev (23-0, 17 KOs). The rugged Russian dropped Tszyu, a former WBO champ, four times, however, before their scheduled 12-round, 154-pound title bout was stopped in the third round.
With national pride always at least in the back of his mind, Paro accepts the responsibility of lifting the spirits of Australian boxing fans who remain disappointed by Tsyzu’s crushing setback. Paro, 28, is one of only two Australian boxers, along with IBF cruiserweight champ Jai Opetaia (26-0, 20 KOs), who currently owns a recognized world title.
“It would mean the world to me,” Paro said. “I’ve always wanted the target on my back, and I’ve got that now. We’re taking on a mandatory [challenger]. You know, there’s no easy fights. My résumé speaks for itself. We’re taking on another undefeated guy. He’s a good boxer, a well-credited boxer, I would say. And I’m keen to show the world that I’m gonna be here for a long time to come. It’s really exciting.”
Brooklyn’s Hitchins, 27, is much more of a pure boxer than the destructive Matias. The punishing Puerto Rican puncher was an 8-1 favorite to top Paro, who surprisingly succeeded on the inside at times and unanimously defeated Matias, according to judges John Basile (116-111), Gerardo Martinez (115-112) and Carl Zappia (115-112) on June 15 at Jose Abreu Coliseum in Manati, Puerto Rico.
Hitchins, who fought for Haiti at the 2016 Summer Olympics, won his 12-round IBF elimination match against Argentina’s Gustavo Lemos by comparable scores two months earlier. Some fans and pundits argued Lemos deserved to win, even though judges Tim Cheatham (117-111), Max De Luca (115-113) and Steve Weisfeld (115-113) scored the fight for Hitchins.
“He was gifted that decision,” Paro said. “In saying that, it’s a clean slate now. So, I said to him at the face-to-face, no excuses. I want the best Hitchins.”
According to the taller, rangier Hitchins, he fought Lemos with a damaged right hand and struggled mightily to make weight for their bout April 6 at Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
“Richardson Hitchins wins this fight by showing he’s a world-level fighter, like I’ve done every other fight,” Hitchins said during their press conference Thursday. “My last fight, a lotta criticism came from the fight. People seen the fight close. I don’t believe that I lost the fight. … But I think that my last fight was definitely an experience to show me you do everything right as a professional, especially with nutrition and listening to the right people, making weight the right way. And I said that’s why I gotta respect Liam, because Liam one of them guys, he’s not gonna f*** off.
“Like with me in my last fight, ‘I’mma eat whatever I want and I’m not doing the IBF [second-day weigh-in].’ And my manager, Keith [Connolly], was like, ‘No, we gotta be professional. You gotta lose the weight the day before the fight.’ So, this fight I came in more experienced, more seasoned. I’m doing everything right. So, like I said, for me to win the fight it’s not by any means necessary. It’s by showing I’m at a world-class level. Liam never been in the ring with an opponent like me. I’mma say it now, and he will be saying it after the fight.”
Hitchins has pointed to how they fared against a common opponent — Puerto Rico’s Yomar Alamo — as justification for how confident he is that he will cut Paro’s championship reign even shorter than those of Horn and Kambosos.
Alamo, who was 20-0-1 at that time, dropped Paro in the first round of their December 2021 bout at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Florida. Paro got up, made their 10-round fight very competitive and won a split decision.
Almost 11 months later, Hitchins dominated Alamo (22-3-1, 13 KOs), who didn’t continue after the eighth round in November 2022 at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland.
Paro performed much better thereafter. He knocked out Australian rival Brock Jarvis (then 20-0) in the first round and Cleveland’s Montana Love (then 18-1-1) in the sixth round in his two subsequent bouts before he knocked off Matias.
The Mackay, Australia, native believes his confidence is much more genuine than Hitchins’ self-assuredness.
“If you watch any of his videos, he contradicts himself over and over again,” Paro said. “It just shows the emotions take over. He’s not even realizing what he’s saying. He’s back and forth, like a tennis match. It is what it is. If it boosts him up enough to step through them ropes, and stand across from me in the ring, that’s all that matters. He can say all he wants. Talk is cheap. Everyone knows Liam Paro goes in there and gets it done with action.”
