By Jack Tiernan: Unbeaten, highly ranked #1 WBO 140-lb contender Liam Paro (23-0, 14 KOs) made easy work of the woefully overmatched fringe contender Brock Jarvis (20-1, 18 KOs) on Saturday night, stopping him in the first round with a beautiful left hand to the head at the South Bank Piazza, South Brisbane, Australia.
Para landed a hard left to the chin of the 24-year-old Jarvis, sending him flat on his back on the canvas. Although Jarvis tried to get back on his feet to resume fighting, he couldn’t get up. The time of the stoppage was at 2:29 of the first round.
When Brock finally got to his feet, the referee immediately waved it off. Jarvis was in no condition to continue fighting with the way he looked.
With the victory, Paro stays in position to challenge for the WBO light welterweight title, be it against champion Josh Taylor or, more likely, when it’s vacated.
The 26-year-old southpaw Paro had easy target practice from the get-go, repeatedly nailing the easy-to-hit Jarvis with straight left hands to the head and then immediately tying him up so he couldn’t answer back.
Jarvis showed that he could not block any of Paro’s left hands, so it was just a matter of time before he was knocked out. Looking like a Ray ‘Boom Boom’ Mancini at times, Jarvis didn’t possess the chin or the punch accuracy as the famous former lightweight champion.
Paro’s punch & grab technique angered the crowd, as they were unhappy with how he would land a single shot on the chin of Jarvis, and then tie him up immediately to prevent him from firing back.
The referee did tell Paro to stop holding, but that didn’t prevent him from continuing to use this straight up until the point where he knocked him out.
Last October, Jarvis had struggled to beat a very average fighter in Alejandro Frias Rodriguez. In that fight, Rodriguez had Jarvis hurt and on the verge of a knockout. Luckily for Jarvis, his power bailed him out of that fight, but not tonight.
Paro holds onto his WBO Global light welterweight title with the victory over Jarvis. It’s possible that we could see Paro challenge for the title potentially against Teofimo Lopez if the current WBO 140-lb champion Josh Taylor vacates.
Also, it would depend on Teofimo whether he wants to battle for a belt against Paro because he’s been playing it safe since his loss to George Kambosos Jr in 2021.
It’s unlikely Teofimo will agree to mix it with Paro because he’s arguably a better fighter than George Kambosos Jr, and we saw how Teo mentally crumbled against him.
As for Jarvis, he’s got a lot of work that he needs to go with his game before he’s ready to fight another contender because he’s too flawed right now to be mixing it with top 20 fighters or even top 30.
The way Jarvis struggled against little-known 2nd-tier fighter Alejandro Frias Rodriguez last October, he’s not ready to fight top-of-the-line opposition at this point in his career.
Brock would be better off fighting journeyman opposition where he can gain experience before fighting upper-level fighters. Jarvis has got the Boom Boom Mancini style and power, but his punch resistance isn’t there, and his defense is horrible.
In undercard action, unbeaten heavyweight fringe contender Demsey McKean (22-0, 14 KOs) destroyed Patrick Korte (18-2-1, 15 KOs). The tall McKean knocked Korte down with a hard shot to the head, resulting in the contest being halted. The bout was officially halted at 2:59 of the third round.
Female featherweight prospect Skye Nicolson (5-0) defeated Krystina Jacobs (6-4) by a 10 round unanimous decision to win the Commonwealth title. The judge’s scores were 100-89, 99-90, and 98-91. Nicolson showed some rare power, knocking Jacobs down in the four round.
Undefeated super middleweight Cesar Mateo Tapia ((15-0, 9 KOs) beat Abdoulaye Mayweather (7-1, 5 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision. The judges’ scored it 99-91, 97-93, and 97-93.
