Matias Vs. Paro: The Puerto Rican Powerhouse’s Homecoming Title Defense

IBF light welterweight champion Subriel Matias will defend against unbeaten Liam Paro 11 days from now, on June 15th, live on DAZN at the Coliseo Juan Aubin Cruz Abreu in Manati, Puerto Rico.

Matias (20-1, 20 KOs), who recently signed with promoter Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom, makes his second defense of his IBF 140-lb title against the unbeaten Paro (24-0, 15 KOs) in a twelve-round fight.

Can Paro Overcome Matias’ Power?

The Australian Paro is also signed with Hearn, and is coming off sixth round knockout of former highly hyped Montana Love last December in San Franciso, California. Paro has looked good against the opposition he’s been facing, but he’s not fought anyone as tough or as powerful as Matias.

Undercard

Angel Fierro vs. Alfredo Santiago
Yankiel Rivera Figueroa vs. Victor Efrain Sandoval
Stephanie Pineiro Aquino vs. Diana Tapia Castro
Jeyvier Cintron vs. Carlos Mujica
Kevin Gonzalez vs. Kenny Demecillo
William A. Ortiz-Rivera vs. Carlos Mitzael Jimenez Vazquez
Nelson Buxo Lozada vs. Alex Pallette

The southpaw Paro’s powerful left hand gives him a chance against Matias if he can land it often enough early to force a stoppage.

If Paro doesn’t get to Matias within six rounds, he could chewed up in the second half of the fight. This fight could end by the midpoint because Matias doesn’t let up, and everything he throws is power behind it.

A Stepping Stone for Matias

It’s an important fight for the 32-year-old Puerto Rican native Matias because he needs a victory here to keep him in position for bigger fights against the likes of these fighters:

• Devin Haney
• Isaac Cruz
• Jack Catterall
• Teofimo Lopez

Matias recently stopped Shohjahon Ergashev in the sixth round in a shootout last November in an entertaining fight in Paradise, Nevada.

The southpaw Ergashev (24-1, 21 KOs) looked impressive initially, landing at will on Matias with left hands in the first two rounds, but the fight turned around in the third when Subriel began wearing him down with hard shots. By the sixth, Egashev had taken too much damage from Matias, and the fight was halted.

They don’t get much tougher than Egashev, and it’s difficult to imagine Liam Paro taking the same kind of punishment that he did without following up early on June 15th. Paro has looked good lately, but against lesser opposition that would lose to many of the top-tier contenders.

Matias’s only career defeat came against Petros Ananyan in 2020, a unanimous decision loss in ten rounds. Two years later, Matias avenged the defeat, stopping Ananyan in the ninth round in 2022.