A 4am, million-dollar phone call has transformed Liam Paro from a promoter's "B Team" to world champion in one of boxing's most marketable divisions.
The Queenslander woke on Thursday battered, bruised and a multiple-division world champion after outlasting IBF welterweight king Lewis Crocker in an enthralling 12-round contest in Brisbane.
The triumph - scored 115-113 by all three judges - was a lesson in boxing IQ, skill and composure and followed Paro's IBF super lightweight world title win in Puerto Rico two years ago.
Both wins rate among the best performances by an Australian boxer and place him alongside Jeff Fenech, who did it 39 years ago, as the country's only men to win belts at multiple weights in boxing's big four organisations.
He now joins household names Rolando Romero (WBA), Ryan Garcia (WBC) and Devin Haney (WBO) as a welterweight world champion in one of boxing's most high-profile fields.
Legendary Manny Pacquiao, Englishman Conor Benn, Teofimo Lopez and Keyshawn Davis are also world ranked in the glamour division.
Paro slept in his car as a budding professional but now all roads lead to a huge payday should any of those fights materialise.
It means the bet paid off after Paro's promoter No Limit Boxing broke an Australian record to secure the purse bid at $1.12 million, beating Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing by just $27,000 to force the Northern Irishman to wage his first defence away from home.
"I'd have any one of them and feel confident with any one for those names," promoter George Rose of No Limit Boxing said of what's next.
"That was one of the bravest performances ... he showed that grit that our great Australian athletes have.
"We're not rich people - we came from nothing and started from nothing and we're up against billionaire promoters - but we believe in our fighter and will happily put everything on the line."
The Mackay slugger felt he'd won the fight "comfortably" and his team argued Crocker's desperate attempts for a knockout in the final rounds were evidence he thought the scorecards were wide, too.
But on inspection of the cards, not made public until the early hours of Thursday morning, the reality was far different.
Paro won seven rounds to Crocker's five but only three - the first, eighth and 10th - were scored in the Queenslander's favour by all three judges.
Crocker, passive in the opening exchanges, left his run too late before taking all the votes in the last two rounds.
The judges were split in the seven other rounds, of which Paro won four 2-1.
Crocker was gracious in defeat but questioned why the referee didn't do more to stop Paro holding on in the final rounds as the champion hunted a stoppage.
A roaring home crowd certainly helped and, after watching his fighter win and lose a world title in Puerto Rico with the odds stacked against him, trainer Alfie Di Carlo was thankful.
"I can't explain how much it meant, winning the purse bid," he said.
"When we won it, on the phone at 4am, we were so ecstatic."
Paro had been promoted by Hearn, who raised eyebrows by not being in Brisbane to support Crocker, before signing with No Limit in July last year.
"Reflecting back, we were sent in as the 'B Team' a lot and Liam was just a thorn in the side, but he kept winning," Di Carlo said of their partnership with Matchroom.
"When we signed with No Limit they delivered ... we get emotional talking about it, because he never got the opportunity to have a world title fight in front of his people."
That could happen within the next three months with a voluntary defence - potentially in North Queensland - a stay-busy option with the other champions already pencilled into fights of their own.
"We'll see how he pulls up; we'd love to keep him active and get up north," Rose said.
"But this won't be a short stint, Liam Paro will be a world champion for a long time."
