Matchroom are hoping to make Liam Paro-Devin Haney in Australia for December 7.
The junior-welterweight division has been transformed throughout the course of 2024, owing to Ryan Garcia’s victory over Haney in April and Paro’s unexpected win over Subriel Matias two months later.
Haney’s defeat by Garcia has since been ruled a no contest, on the grounds of the overweight Garcia testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs and subsequently being banned for 12 months.
The WBC title the 25-year-old Haney entered the ring with that night is on course to be contested by Alberto Puello and Sandor Martin, but Paro has been promised a homecoming fight in his home country and Matchroom’s Eddie Hearn wants to tempt Haney to return there again – two years after he twice travelled there to defeat George Kambosos Jnr.
Those two victories, and those since then over the great Vasiliy Lomachenko and Regis Prograis, transformed Haney’s career and profile to the extent that fighting in Australia may no longer carry the same appeal, but Hearn told BoxingScene: “It’s a good fight. It’s a fight that Devin thinks he can win. Obviously, he can come back. He’s in recess with the WBC, so it’s a unification/regaining a title [fight].
“It’s a fight that Liam would like as well. Devin’s got a good profile in Australia with those two Kambosos fights. So it could be an option. I spoke to him [Thursday] night, and he says if the deal’s right, I don’t think he’d have a problem going.
“The plan for Liam Paro is to fight December 7 in Australia. That’s the aim. We’re in conversations with various state governments to hold Liam Paro’s fight. Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide.
“There is still a chance [the opponent] could be the [Jack] Catterall-[Regis] Prograis winner, but that’s unlikely, given the timing. I still would like to look at a fight between Devin Haney and Paro, or if not, another contender in the division.
“I like the Kambosos fight. Obviously, it’s two Aussies; Kambosos has been at lightweight for a long time; that’s a fight that could make sense. No major discussions, but it would be an interesting fight.”
Hearn had previously spoken of the winner of Jack Catterall-Regis Prograis being installed as Paro’s first challenger, but their fight being postponed from August 24 to October 26 makes it almost certain that they will not be ready for December 7.
The promoter regardless has plans for another of his British fighters, the popular heavyweight Johnny Fisher, to feature on the undercard, and said that Australians Skye Nicolson and Jai Opetaia – who respectively fight Raven Chapman and Jack Massey on October 12 on the undercard of Artur Beterbiev-Dmitry Bivol in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – could also yet fight.
“He would definitely go on that Australia card as well,” Hearn said of Fisher. “He’s actually got a really big following, him and his dad [John] in Australia, so he’d be on.
“Pending how Skye Nicolson gets on against Raven Chapman, she could be on that card as well. That would make sense. Justis Huni as well, likely to be on that card; maybe even Jai Opetaia, pending on how he gets on on October 12. It could be a massive card.”