Australian boxer Liam Wilson is one fight away from winning the WBC title.

As a child, Liam Wilson never stopped shadow boxing. And if there were any lingering suspicions that he was chasing the wrong caper, those were answered on a trip to Russia at the age of 14.

“They asked, ‘Why are you boxing?’

“I was like, ‘Why did you say that? You can’t say that! But he was just being honest.'”

Tindall runs the Catoolture Boxing Club with her husband and coach, Don, and is also Queensland’s boxing administrator.

Wilson will get a chance to prove he’s the champion he’s always wanted next Friday night (Saturday AEDT) in Phoenix.

A series of lucky events means the 26-year-old will fight Emmanuel Navarrete for the vacant WBC super featherweight world title.

Ann Tindall remembers the day Wilson stepped into the gym when she was 12.

“I could see it right away,” she told AAP. “Donnie was sure, ‘This kid must be everything I told him, he’s gotta go home and practice.’

“He came the next day and nailed it.

“He knows he’s good”

“He walks around shadow sparring everywhere he goes and has been that way since the beginning.

“Liam is very deceptive. His abilities are invisible when you are talking to him.

“He’s shy, but he knows he’s good, and that’s great.

“He realized pretty early on what he could do with that power, but he never developed this innate ability.

“He walked in the door wanting to do whatever he had to do to be the best.”

Wilson, who weighs less than 59 kg at the Desert Diamond Arena, seems destined for this moment, having won over 100 amateur bouts under Tyndale before turning pro in 2018.

A brutal knockout loss in 2021 put his run to a halt, but Wilson soon sought a rematch and battled some inner demons before giving himself a knockout to right the ship.

He was preparing for a world title eliminator on the undercard of Tim Tzee’s title fight in Las Vegas this week.

That bout was subsequently postponed, but Wilson had already offered a challenge for the throne when Oscar Valdez, who was due to fight Navarrete for the title vacated by Shakur Stevenson, was injured.

A Promise to a Dying Father

But Wilson, who promised his dying father when he was 15 that he would become world champion, feels ready for years.

“I do, I do,” Wilson smiled when he recounted Tyndale’s shadow boxing memories.

“I just lived, breathed and loved boxing.

“I came from Kingaroy and transitioned from training two to four days a week (in Caboolture) and thought, ‘This is the real thing.

“For me, it was the pinnacle and the people who came to that gym knew every sparring session was going to be a war.

“I thought of myself as World Champion material. It was only a matter of time… Fast forward 17 years later and that’s where I am.

Trainer Ben Harrington says his charge has no weaknesses.

“Boxers like him are like unicorns. They don’t exist,” he said before the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

“He’s a weirdo. There’s no other way to say it. The complete package.

“Fastest, Strongest, Explosive”

“Fastest, strongest, and explosive. He’s the hungrier and the most determined.

“He can do orthodox boxing, he can do southpaw boxing. There’s nothing he can’t do.”

A father of two, Wilson is a humble and tamed admiration for Don Tyndall.

“He shaped me into who I am today and my fighting style,” Wilson told AAP, aiming to become just the second current Australian men’s world champion.

“I’ve had about 100 fights under Don. When I was younger I used to fight tough guys, big guys, and they didn’t come easy.

“He always told us that sparring is like a 12-round world title fight. That’s how we handle it.”

Navarrete is undefeated in 31 games in 11 years, and 30 of his 36 wins have come by knockout, so his Phoenix chances may not go far.

Wilson, a knockout merchant himself, sought out sparring partners during the eight-week US fight camp, often switching at the end of each round, to prepare for Mexico’s unorthodox style.

“I come in with a boxing mindset, but I’m trying to knock him out,” he said.

“It could end in a real shootout.”

-AAP