Liam Paro defeats David Papot after bruising 12-round welterweight fight

Paro was made to dig deeper than he ever has in his first fight at welterweight, claiming the win with scores of 117-111, 116-112 and 116-112 in a thrilling 12 round battle.

It was a savage encounter that will enter the running as domestic fight of the year, with Paro exiting the ring with his right eye completely swollen shut and Papot’s white beard stained yellow from the Aussie’s gloves.

“I can barely see. It’s a pearler, I’ll be wearing some nice sunnies,” Paro said after getting a glimpse of his injury.

“Back to the drawing board, this is the elite level. You slip up once and end up like this.

“I want to become a two weight world champion, the dream doesn’t stop.

“Credit to Papot, he was undefeated for a reason. He was crafty, he’s a hell of a fighter and we had to dig deep.

“That’s boxing, we’re not playing marbles.”

Paro needed all the experience from his long-time coach Alfie di Carlo as the fight started slipping away in the middle rounds.

“Everyone knows Alfie, he’s looked after me a lot,” Paro said. “If I was playing up, I’d have copped another slap around the ear, so I had to pick it up and keep boxing.”

Paro looked good in the opening three rounds, but Papot connected with a huge left hand in the closing seconds of the fourth, stunning the Aussie, who took several more shots before holding until the bell.

The Queenslander started the fifth with a huge welt over his right eye as Papot used all his experience to ride out an early attack and fight back, giving Paro a bloody nose.

Papot struggled making weight on Wednesday, but was visibly bigger on fight night. He has previously fought at middleweight and clearly carried his power down to welterweight.

He kept targeting the gruesome swelling over Paro’s eye, landing some massive overhand lefts as the size advantage became a more obvious issue.

Paro rallied in the eighth as the pace slowed, and the former world champion finally started landing some telling shots.

Papot slowed even more in the ninth, and attempted to brush off Paro’s shots by shrugging his shoulders after every exchange.

Papot went down in the 11th, but it was ruled a slip and the pair traded wild exchanges until the final bell.

It had been a wild fight week, with a host of withdrawals rocking the card, and one fighter falling off the stage at the weigh-ins, and the drama continued on fight night.

Jacob Ng’s opponent, Rikki Naito, didn’t make it out of the first round before snapping his Achilles and losing by TKO.

Former two-time world title challenger Liam Wilson scored his third win of 2025 when he stopped the dangerous Jorge Santana.

‘Mr Damage’ landed one of his brutal left hooks in the fourth round, sending Santana to the canvas.

He couldn’t beat the count, with the Dominican fighter suffering his second defeat and first by stoppage.

The Caboolture fighter immediately doubled down on his call-out of George Kambosos.

“I know they (No Limit) have plans, but I want the fight I’ve wanted for the last few years,” he said. “I want George Kambosos.

“As a proud Australian, why wouldn’t you want to make an all-Australian showdown.”

No Limit CEO George Rose said the Kambosos fight is a possibility, but wants to land Wilson a rematch with Emanuel Navarrete.

It was Mexico’s Navarrete who scored a controversial world title win over Wilson in Arizona in 2023.

“I’ve got no problems with that. I’d love to see Liam Wilson fight George Kambosos,” Rose said.

“But I also have my eyes on Navarrete, and getting Liam the world title he deserves.

“And I think he’ll do what he just did there. And we could do it in front of his hometown fans in Brisbane.”