A bloodied Liam Paro has won his second world boxing title, pipping IBF welterweight champion Lewis Crocker in a wild Brisbane duel.
The Queenslander won by unanimous decision against the champ from Northern Ireland, all three judges scoring the fight 115-113 on Wednesday at Pat Rafter Arena.
Victory comes two years after Paro collected the IBF's super lightweight belt, earning him a place alongside Jeff Fenech as the only Australian men's boxers with world titles in multiple weight classes of the sport's big four organisations.
Paro was far busier and more successful in the early rounds, chipping away as Crocker surged forward.
The Australian remained evasive but the Belfast man's power and size showed in the middle rounds as the tide threatened to turn.
Paro steadied in the seventh round before the contest opened up in the final rounds, Crocker collecting Paro in the back of the head and forcing a pause.
The challenger fought on and they engaged in a fierce finale as blood streamed from above Paro's left eye, before embracing after the final bell.
"That was unreal. He came to fight but I'd do that again, a thousand times over," a stitched-up Paro said.
"I made history. Love me, hate me, you can't take that from me.
"You get punched in the face, headbutt, cut, sometimes it goes out the window and you bite down and fight."
The Australian was warned for a low blow and again for leading with his head but was never docked a point, leaving Crocker - albeit gracious in defeat - frustrated and questioning whether the referee should have done more.
But Paro thought the scorecards should have been wider, even after Crocker surged late to threaten in his first title defence.
"I was very confident; I knew we won that fight comfortably," he said.
In the co-main event, Nelson Asofa-Solomona improved to 3-0 after victory in the battle of former NRL heavy hitters.
He and George Burgess spent the first minute sizing each other up before engaging in an entertaining slugfest.
Burgess, on debut, was cut in the first round but showed some class to evade Asofa-Solomona and land a nice left-hand combination of his own.
But, out on his feet in the second round, he staggered to the bell and the Burgess corner eventually threw in the towel with their man on the ropes in the third round.
Paying tribute to rugby league counterpart Jai Arrow, who is battling motor neurone disease, the pair agreed post-fight to auction off their trunks to support the cause.
Earlier, Demsey McKean (25-2) stopped a free-swinging Liam Talivaa (8-3) in the fourth round of their wild IBF Pan Pacific heavyweight clash.
The much shorter Talivaa took a hammering in a loose contest but barely flinched, almost connecting with two ferocious uppercuts of his own.
Chasing the knockout and a return to the world rankings, McKean lined him up with a huge left hand before the referee intervened.
