A recent article by BoxingScene.com’s Jake Donovan confirmed that Arnold Barboza (28-0) declined a WBO junior welterweight title eliminator against Liam Paro (23-0).
Matchroom, who promotes Paro, bid $303,000, which was to be split 60/40 in favor of Australia’s Paro since the fight was due to take place in the U.S. Barboza hails from the greater Los Angeles area and thus would have earned 40 percent, per the terms of the purse bid.
However, Barboza, who is promoted by Bob Arum’s Top Rank, wants to clear the air and state that he was indeed interested in the fight, just not at the terms dictated by the purse bid result.
“Honestly, I was excited when the WBO ordered that fight. It’s a fight I have been wanting and a fight I have been working for. But I know my worth and I was not going to go and fight for what they wanted to pay especially under his promoter,” Barboza told BoxingScene.com.
“We tried to ask Eddie Hearn for a little more to make the fight and they didn’t even want to negotiate. If they [had given] us the number we want, we have a fight.”
In the end, the entire situation worked out well for Paro, who now finds himself with a direct path to a world title shot.
On Saturday night, Hearn officially confirmed that his company had signed WBC junior welterweight champion Regis Prograis. And Hearn quickly went to work to finalize his first fight under the Matchroom banner. Prograis is going to make his first defense of the world title against Paro, on June 17th. The fight will take place in Prograis’ backyard of New Orleans.
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