Liam Paro delivered on his promise to make a statement while waiting out an owed world title shot.

Matchroom Boxing’s debut in the Australia market landed in Paro’s hometown of Brisbane, with the unbeaten junior welterweight contender ending the show with a first-round knockout of countryman Brock Jarvis. A perfectly timed straight left hand by the local hero put Jarvis down and out just 149 seconds into their DAZN-aired headliner Saturday at South Bank Piazza in South Brisbane, Australia.

The domestic rivalry has sparked nationwide debate over how the fight would play out, despite Paro fighting at his natural weight and Jarvis entering a new division. Marrickville’s Jarvis turned pro at junior bantamweight just seven years ago, already fighting at his seventh weight and moving up for the fifth time in as many fights.

It was one too many, as Paro emphatically showed on Saturday.

“I knew I was the best in this country,” Paro told lead commentator Ben Damon after his brief but explosive performance. “I’ve said for a while that I was here to make a statement.”

The pair of unbeaten Aussies were both coming off long layoffs following separate U.S. debuts in the fourth quarter of 2022. Jarvis hadn’t fought in exactly 52 weeks, scoring a fifth-round knockout of Alejandro Frias after being rocked early in their lightweight clash after having just moved up from junior lightweight.

Paro last fought in a ten-round, unanimous decision win over unbeaten Yomar Alamo on the undercard of the Jake Paul-Tyron Woodley rematch last December 18 in Tampa. The 26-year-old southpaw remained stateside for training camp, spending much of his time in Las Vegas in preparation for this bout.

Jarvis relied on the teachings of the greatest fighter to ever come out of his hometown, Hall of Fame former three-division champion Jeff Fenech. It was enough to get him to this point, though he quickly found himself well in over his head against the more established Paro.

Action was expected from the opening bell, with both fighters living up to that promise. It was Paro who was quicker to the draw, immediately finding a home for his left hand. Jarvis—who is trained bywas never able to make the defensive adjustment necessary to extend the fight beyond the first round.

He also couldn’t find a way to stay off the canvas.

Paro continued to line up Jarvis for his straight left hand. It landed at the tail end of four consecutive combinations, the last of which ended the fight. Jarvis (20-1, 18KOs) hit the deck hard, trying in vain to peel himself off the canvas before the fight was waved off as he was clearly in no condition to continue.

Paro improves—in every sense of the word—to 22-1 (14KOs) with the win, while waiting out his owed shot at the WBO junior welterweight title currently held by lineal champion Josh Taylor (19-0, 13KOs). The expectation is to remain active while Taylor—who has already relinquished the WBC, WBA and IBF belts in the past few months—awaits word on an anticipated rematch with England’s Jack Catterall, against whom he won a disputed split decision earlier this year.

Taylor could very well vacate the WBO belt after such a fight, though Paro’s preference is to face the unbeaten Scottish southpaw. The backup plan would be a shot at the eventually vacant belt against former lineal/unified lightweight king Teofimo Lopez (17-1, 13KOs), who is now campaigning at junior welterweight and is the number-one ranked WBO contender though Paro is next in line for a title shot.

“[Paro] is ready, he’s ready now to fight for the world title,” Eddie Hearn, Paro’s promoter, said. “Josh Taylor looks like he will fight Jack Catterall again. [Paro] should be mandatory for the winner. If they want to vacate, it should be Liam Paro against Teofimo Lopez. I will do everything I can to bring that to Australia.”

Such a plan is music to Paro’s ears.

“It means the world to me,” said Paro, who signed with Matchroom shortly after his win over Alamo late last year. “I can’t wait to keep making him proud.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox