A monstrous left hand put Liam Paro back in the win column Down Under.
Paro, who was fighting for the first time since losing his IBF super lightweight title to Richardson Hitchins this past December, forced Jonathan Navarro to retire on his stool after five rounds in their main event bout in the early hours of Wednesday morning at the Convention Centre in Cairns, Queensland, Australia.
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The Aussie southpaw landed a crushing overhand left on Navarro (18-2, 9 KOs) in the final 45 seconds of the fifth round. Although Navarro rose to his feet almost immediately, he was target practice for Paro’s left hand for the remainder of the round. Paro (26-1, 16 KOs) buzzed Navarro again in the final 10 seconds of the deciding round.
Navarro went back to his corner as a beaten man — and it didn’t take long for his trainer to recognize it either. Navarro’s corner team stopped the bout in the one-minute break between rounds five and six, awarding Paro an inside-the-distance win in his return fight.
In the previous four rounds, Paro dominated the action with his southpaw jab and stinging body punching. The Aussie dictated the pace, with Navarro hesitant to challenge him, choosing to do his best work through counter-punching.
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Paro began to put his shots together more in rounds three and four, and as he pushed the fight into close range, Navarro was more willing to let his own hands go. Paro’s offensive variety, however, made sure Navarro was second best in exchanges.
Paro had done a good job of controlling the first four rounds of the fight, and the fifth was looking to be more of the same until he found the breakthrough with a left hand down the middle in the final minute. The knockdown was the beginning of the end for Navarro, who was also dealing with substantial nose damage.
It was Paro’s first fight in Australia since his opening-round triumph over domestic rival Brock Jarvis in October 2022, which doubled up as his debut for Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing.
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Paro went on to upset the odds in Puerto Rico to dethrone Subriel Matias of his IBF world title, but lost it in his first defense to Hitchins. After four bouts with Matchroom, Paro was a free agent and chose to sign a one-fight deal with Aussie promoter No Limit, which put on his Queensland homecoming bout.
No Limit hopes to continue its working relationship with Paro and land him a bout with either Teofimo Lopez, Ryan Garcia or Isaac “Pitbull” Cruz. Paro, who is ranked No. 4 with the WBO, called for a shot at a world title in his post-fight interview, citing his intentions to become a two-time titleholder.
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