BRISBANE’S brilliant boxing prodigy Liam Paro has already won a world youth title but now faces his toughest challenge yet to emulate the success of sparring partner Jeff Horn.

The unbeaten Paro faces 30-year-old German Robert Tlatlik at the Mansfield Tavern on October 13.

Tlatlik, who has been a pro fighter for seven years, has lost only once on points — to unbeaten Polish welterweight champ Lukasz Wierzbicki and comes into the fight with 22 wins, 16 of them by knockout.

The 22-year-old Paro has 14 wins, with 10 inside the distance, the most spectacular being in his last fight when he bounced Czech Sebastian Bytyqi off the canvas for a second-round stoppage that gave him the world youth super-lightweight title.

Paro was Jeff Horn’s sparring partner before his two biggest fights against Manny Pacquiao and Terence Crawford and Horn says the youngster is a slick fighter with excellent power.

“Liam’s a very good all-round boxer,’’ Horn said. “He’s very composed, excellent in attack and defence and I can see him having a big future.’’

Paro was ringside in Las Vegas to see Horn lose his world welterweight title to Crawford in June but took the opportunity while there to spar at the renowned gym of all-time great Floyd Mayweather.

Born in Mackay, he and his trainer Alfie Di Carlo have a path mapped out to conquer the world that closely follows Horn’s world title march.

Nine months before he beat Pacquiao, Horn beat another tough German, Rico Mueller, who had a similar record to Tlatlik’s. After two more fights Horn was beating Manny Pacquiao before 51,000 fans at Suncorp Stadium for the world welterweight title.