Magnificent McKenna – Monaghan Man Comes of Age Beating former World Champ on Eubank Jr – Benn Bill
The Silencer made some serious noise with a statement win in London tonight.
Aaron McKenna scalped a former world champion in Liam Smith on the Fatal Fury bill at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Indeed, the 25-year-old bossed the bout from start to finish, winning the battle of the boxing brothers in sensational style.
Monaghan’s latest boxing star managed the step up with ease, delivering on his breakout promise on one of the biggest cards of the year.
Any win over Smith would have been a coming-of-age moment, but the manner of the Eubank Jr-Benn undercard victory saw him announce himself to the boxing world.
In fact, the 19-108, 117-109, 118-108 points win came courtesy of a world-class performance, and such should see him mentioned in world title parlance.
McKenna picked up the WBA international middleweight title on the night but earned more by way of notoriety, respect, and 160lbs positioning with a star is born performance.
McKenna reneged on his war promise in the first, electing instead to work behind a sharp jab.
The more often than not aggressive boxer took to the back foot and looked to use his long levers to score. As a result, he boxed his way to a 10-9 stanza and threw in two good body shots for good measure before the end of the first three.
The second round followed a similar pattern, with the Monaghan man looking relaxed and confident. The 25-year-old switched across the round and landed two eye-catching uppercuts off either hand.
Smith was making him work, but without landing of note.
It was same story, different round, moving into the next. McKenna scoring without having to sit down on any shots and finding real rhythm. His more experienced foe’s only tactic was to press forward in a bid to tire the Irish starlet.
The former world champion attempted to wrestle momentum from McKenna in the fourth but the Smithborough native had a firm grip on it.
Indeed, the younger brother of Stevie McKenna ended the round pushing his foe back and winning any inside exchanges.
By the end of the fifth, the Irish side of the Ireland-England clash was well on top, even dominating.
There was brilliant variety and bad intentions across the session as McKenna started to move through the gears.
Four uppercuts in a row in the sixth symbolised how the fight was going, and moving into the second half of the fight, a McKenna stoppage looked the most likely result.
Many predicted Smith would take over from six on, but the seventh saw him ship some real punishment from a fluid, still fresh, and potentially fatal McKenna.
The Feargal McKenna-trained well-travelled boxer had completely ditched the box and move approach by eight and nine and was beating one of four boxing brothers at his own game. He held his feet and was enjoying the fight, although the skills and variety remained.
To his credit, Smith was still there, still throwing and still trying, but ‘The Silencer’ was beating him in every department.
McKenna continued to look like a champion in waiting across the championship rounds.
In fact, he closed the show brilliantly by dominating the rounds he was meant to struggle in. The new middleweight name flirted with putting the icing on the cake when dropping Smith with a brilliant long left hook to the body in the last.
However, the Liverpool native showed his toughness to reach the final bell.
