EXCLUSIVE: 'No luck' involved for 'laughin' Liam Paro ahead of latest hostile boxing bout

He shocked the world in Puerto Rico and to remain champion, Queenslander Liam Paro will have to do it again on Sunday (AEDT).

The Aussie (25-0, 15 KOs) will face the unbeaten Richardson Hitchins (18-0, 7 KOs) in a main event inside Roberto Clemente Coliseum in San Juan.

It's an unusual predicament for the 28-year-old IBF junior welterweight champion.

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In most cases, a champion's first title defence takes place at home but for Paro, it's just another fight on the road he has to win, before what he described as a "massive" homecoming in 2025.

That "massive" fight is rumoured to be against former champion George Kambosos, who is also signed to the Matchroom stable.

But before that he has to get past Hitchins, a former Olympian who stressed he was not himself in his last win over Gustavo Lemos.

"We wanted the bigger names, the Haneys, the Lopezs quite frankly no one was biting so we called upon our mandatory," Paro told Wide World of Sports.

"I want to be a busy champion, I'm the happiest when I'm fighting so, they had a card matched in Puerto Rico already and they promoted it to the Puerto Rican government and they jumped on the opportunity as I already took out their former champion.

"They jumped on the opportunity they said it would work, it's just the way it is. I've been on the road long enough so it's nothing new to me."

The Mackay fighter, of Italian descent, has done things the hard way his entire career.

After playing rugby league for the North Mackay Magpies in the local junior competition, he switched to boxing at age 13 after seeing a teammate wrapping his hands before a gym session.

At 14, as he puts it: "I remember parking my bum on the couch and telling my old girl and old boy that I was going to be world champion."

Fastforward years later, Paro moved to Brisbane to enhance his skills, which saw him train with Jeff Horn and help the former school teacher prepare for clashes with Manny Pacquiao and Terrence Crawford.

In the background Paro, under Ace Boxing's Angelo Di Carlo, was amassing quite the record, and attracted the attention of renowned international promoter Eddie Hearn, who signed the Aussie and set up the first bout that put him on the radar of fight fans.

After defeating fellow Australian Brock Jarvis in devastating fashion, Paro shocked the boxing world when he beat Subriel Matias in his own backyard to win the belt in June.

"Anybody who trains with us realises we're not here by luck - we work our butts off in the gym," he said.

"I've taken hard fights my whole career. The guy I beat last fight had knocked out five guys in a row. He was the most avoided guy in boxing at the time.

"We've never turned down a challenge."

Most fighters coming out of Australia must take the hard route to success, that's why guys like Paro and Kambosos were largely unseen during their early years.

While Tim Tszyu delivered memorable nights for promoters and domestic fight fans, making around $1 million a fight while banking on his famous last name, those without that luxury, like Paro, have gone far and beyond to make their dreams come true.

But Paro doesn't view his career through the prism of another fighter and said he doesn't need the recognition to enjoy the spoils of his hard work.

"I'm lucky enough to have very good sponsors, Step One being one of my major sponsors, they've helped me from earlier on in my career and still to this day that takes the stress off," he said.

"Since the Matchroom signing it's been pretty good. At the end of the day I'm happy doing what I'm doing, I love to fight and give a better life to my family. If I get the recognition or not I'm still doing what I love and get to live my dream so I'm laughin'."

As for Hitchins, Paro said he doesn't want any excuses from the American like he dished up after his unconvincing win over Lemos.

"If he overlooks me that's his problem. Guys have done that in the past that find themselves getting peeled off the canvas not long after.

"All I seen from him was a million excuses for that fight and I told him face to face no excuses. I want him to be 110 percent. I don't think he believes half the things he says. He said from 18-0 he hasn't taken his nutrition seriously, so who knows."

Paro and Hitchins will air exclusively on streaming platform DAZN in Australia.

The main card is due to begin at 11:00am AEDT.