By: Sean Crose
24-0 Liam Paro traveled from Australia to Puerto Rico to take on the popular and hard-hitting 20-1 Subriel Matias. Round 12 is scheduled to be the main event of the DAZN broadcast card. At stake is Matias’ IBF welterweight title. The Matias electric crowd certainly saw their man put in a performance against unbeaten Paro.
The first incident was close, if not explosive. Paro opened fire in the second round, while Matias remained patient behind a high-level defense. The third person saw Paro following closely and moving on him. However, Matias began to throw himself. By the end of the round, both men were shooting at a fast and furious pace. Paro continued to land well in the fourth round. It was clear that Matias was simply not as active as he should have been, as Paro was clearly the more active of the two fighters in the ring.
By midway through the fight, it was clear that Matias simply couldn’t find a way to land well against his slippery, high-energy opponent. Sure, Paro proved he could hit, miss and hold his own in the sixth round. The referee deducted points from Paro in the seventh round, reportedly for holding Matias behind his head. Needless to say, the DAZN broadcast team was not pleased.
Paro slowed down a bit in the eighth, but continued to throw and land furiously. However, the referee warned Paro for hitting his head behind his back. With that said, Matias has done solid work for himself. He then continued to apply good pressure in the ninth minute. Matias left more of an impact than Paro at this point in the match. It was clear in the tenth that Paro was running out of gas. However, his hit, run and hold strategy still worked for him to a large extent.
Matias was able to mix his punches together a bit in round 11, but he was certainly having a challenging night at the office. The twelfth and final round saw Paro fight and hold while Matias was still unable to prevail. Not that Matias hasn’t had his moments – however, Paro is simply too difficult for him to tackle well with any real regularity.
Indeed, even Matias applauded when Paro was awarded a unanimous decision victory.
