Rough sleeper: Paro’s blue Corolla and no Plan B

Murray Wenzel | June 22, 2026

Liam Paro has questioned the mindset of champion Lewis Crocker and revealed he was reduced to sleeping in a car to chase his boxing dream ahead of his historic title fight chance.

The Queenslander (27-1) will seek to become a multiple-division world champion when he takes on the Northern Irishman (22-0) at Brisbane’s Pat Rafter Arena on Wednesday.

Paro’s shot at the IBF welterweight crown comes almost two years to the day since he upset Subriel Matias in his Puerto Rican stronghold to win the IBF super lightweight belt.

Victory would see the 30-year-old become the first Australian-born fighter since Jeff Fenech, 39 years ago, to win world titles involving the four major boxing organisations in more than one weight division.

It comes after the Mackay product boldly quit an auto electrical apprenticeship to move to Townsville as a teenager and chase a boxing career, without a “Plan B”.

Paro delivered fridges for The Good Guys and then worked at Rocklea’s fruit market after moving to Brisbane, when he suddenly found himself without a roof over his head.

“I was stuck for a bit, with nowhere to go for a couple of weeks,” he said.

“Living in Carol, I called it, a little blue Corolla.

“Crazy, but it’s all chapters in the book … you’ll look back and go ‘wow’.”

Promoter No Limit Boxing pipped Paro’s previous manager, Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom – who manage Crocker – by just $27,000 to claim hosting rights with a national record bid of $1.152 million.

As champion Crocker will collect the lion’s share of that sum, but if Paro wins he will command big dollars to validate his bold move almost 15 years ago.

“I told dad I was going to leave (the apprenticeship) and shit hit the fan,” Paro recalled.

“That was certain, a trade, but I was leaping into a ‘could be’, something that was just a dream.

“People were asking what my Plan B was, but for me a Plan B means I’m thinking about failure. It kept me so locked in.

“So now, you look over the hill at what’s there, it’s life-changing.

“But there’s a big roadblock in Lewis Crocker.”

Crocker, ahead of his first title defence and first professional fight outside Europe, has been in Brisbane for more than two weeks.

The pair faced off at Sunday’s grand arrivals for the first time and Paro asked Crocker why he continued to describe himself as the underdog, questioning if that was a “champion mindset”.

He doubled down on Monday’s official press conference, but a respectful Crocker, who has changed coaches since winning his title in Belfast, remained calm.

“I am. I don’t know why people are making a big deal out of it. It’s just a fact,” he said of claiming underdog status based on betting odds.

“I’m always going to back myself, but I’m not fighting in an hour, two hours, three hours. 

“I fight on Wednesday night and that’s when that (game face) will come.”

Paro also took a shot at Hearn, who has not travelled from England to support Crocker.

“It just shows a bit of disrespect,” he said, adding that “deep down” Crocker would be annoyed he had to travel overseas to defend his title.

“It shows, do you believe in me or do you not? But Crocker’s here and he means business.”