| Eddie Hearn, Matchroom Sport Chairman: “We’re live from Brisbane as we look to talk about our first Australian show in September. Just a thrilling fight between the world No.1 at 140lbs Liam Paro and 20-0 Brock Jarvis. As well we have Demsey McKean and Skye Nicolson who is joining us today ahead of our first ever show in Australia. We’re a bit early, we’ve still got work to do but I’m here planning the show and I wanted to get everyone together, and thanks for a great turnout today here in Brisbane. “As you know, Matchroom have a big global vision for the sport. We’re already in many territories around the world, of course the UK being our prime market, the US as well, Mexico, Italy, Spain, the Middle East. But Australia is a market that we’ve been looking at very closely, it’s a market that’s going to be very important to us. I have been around the world very aggressively, I come in peace to Australia. I come to understand your world. “This is my first ever time in Australia and I’m having a great time this week. It’s going to be a very important market for us, I’ve been watching the great work that people have been doing in this territory, great promoters, of course one of our partners over here Angelo Di Carlo and Alfie Di Carlo, Main Events, No Limit – all doing great work here. I’m really impressed, not just by the shows, but by the talent pool as well. “We want to bring something different, we want to bring value for money and we want to bring exposure to Australian boxing. We want to invest in the grass roots of the professional code as well. But more importantly we want to make great fights, from top to bottom on the card. I reckon we’re about a week or two weeks away from giving you all of the details you need to know about September, but one thing I promise you is a tremendous fight card.” Liam Paro: “This is a good platform to get more Australian fans before we get that title. But now my mind is strictly on this job and making a statement. I’ve worked my ass off to get to No.1 the hard way. I’m not going to let no kid come here and take it, I can tell you that much. Brock is a good fighter, I respect him. You don’t get to 20-0 for no reason. Like Alfie said before, the competition we have faced, you can’t compare. His 20-0 record is equivalent to my 7-0 so we’ve going to see that in September. I’ve got a statement to make. I want to be a household name in Australia, and this is another guy in my way. This is my destiny so I’m not letting him come here a wreck it – no way. We didn’t have to take this fight. We could have sat pretty at No.1 until that title came. I love to fight; this is what I do. It’s going to be a good show. Let’s get it on, I can’t wait!” Alfie Di Carlo: “We’re very confident. I understand that Liam has a target on his back at No.1, don’t get me wrong. It makes sense that people are looking to shortcut their career because we’ve invested a lot of time and Liam’s had a lot of great performances against international opposition and world rated fighters to get to where he is. But everyone is looking for a shortcut and that’s what I see this as, looking for a shortcut to the top. Yes, there is a big history between our families and yes, I have taken that personally because I didn’t chase this fight. But look, at the end of the day business is business, he’ll be 100% ready for this fight and he’s going to make a statement. There are different levels to it, and he’s credentialed. Have a look at the list of opponents Liam has fought compared to Brock. I think it speaks for itself. Brock is a great fighter, don’t get me wrong, but I just think Liam has had the much more experience and I think that there’s levels to it and you’ll see a boxing clinic.” Brock Jarvis: “I’m very grateful to get the opportunity. It almost seems unfair that I get a shot at world No.1 without even having competed in the 140lbs division but that’s just the way that it went and I’m very lucky to get the opportunity. I’m going to make the most of it. It’s unbelievable. It opens a lot of doors for me. My main focus right now is just wining the fight. I don’t really care about what comes after it. I haven’t even thought about it. It’s a big fight and it’s a tough fight – that’s all I’m worried about. It was a big fight for me going over to America. It was a great opportunity but a bit of a shaky debut, but it just happened the way it did and I learnt a whole lot from that so I’ll be better off moving forwards.” Jeff Fenech: “First of all, total respect to the Di Carlo family, I love them, they are my family. And Liam too, we’ve travelled with Liam, we’ve been a part of trying to help him grow with his career on occasions. This was an opportunity that when I was asked, I thought of all the positives and of course I said yes. Why did I say yes? It’s quite obvious. I said yes because I think that Brock can win.” Skye Nicolson: “I’m really excited. I said from the start I really want to bring my pro fights home to Australia. Obviously having that experience, having two fights in the US and two fights in the UK, it’s perfect timing to have that first title fight here on home soil. I feel like one thing that is missing from Australian boxing, we’ve definitely got the talent, but they’re just not fighting each other and I think this main event is a perfect example of what we need to do, we just need to see the best in Australia fight the best in Australia, that’s where we’re going to get those exciting nights. I’m really excited for the extra rounds. I feel like I barely get out of 2nd gear in six rounders so I think we’ll definitely see more excitement as the rounds go on. I’m very excited for a ten rounder.” |
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