The Silencer made some severe noise with an announcement win in London tonight.
Aaron McKenna scalped a former world champion in Liam Smith on the Deadly Fury invoice on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Certainly, the 25-year-old bossed the bout from begin to end, profitable the battle of the boxing brothers in sensational type.
Monaghan’s newest boxing star managed the step up with ease, delivering on his breakout promise on one of many largest playing cards of the yr.
Any win over Smith would have been a coming-of-age second, however the method of the Eubank Jr-Benn undercard victory noticed him announce himself to the boxing world.
In reality, the 19-108, 117-109, 118-108 factors win got here courtesy of a world-class efficiency, and such ought to see him talked about in world title parlance.
McKenna picked up the WBA worldwide middleweight title on the night time however earned extra by means of notoriety, respect, and 160lbs positioning with a star is born efficiency.
26 April 2025
Image By Mark Robinson Matchroom Boxing.
McKenna reneged on his struggle promise within the first, electing as an alternative to work behind a pointy jab.
The as a rule aggressive boxer took to the again foot and appeared to make use of his lengthy levers to attain. Because of this, he boxed his option to a 10-9 stanza and threw in two good physique pictures for good measure earlier than the tip of the primary three.
The second spherical adopted the same sample, with the Monaghan man trying relaxed and assured. The 25-year-old switched throughout the spherical and landed two eye-catching uppercuts off both hand.
Smith was making him work, however with out touchdown of word.
It was identical story, completely different spherical, transferring into the subsequent. McKenna scoring with out having to take a seat down on any pictures and discovering actual rhythm. His extra skilled foe’s solely tactic was to press ahead in a bid to tire the Irish starlet.
The previous world champion tried to wrestle momentum from McKenna within the fourth however the Smithborough native had a agency grip on it.
Certainly, the youthful brother of Stevie McKenna ended the spherical pushing his foe again and profitable any inside exchanges.
By the tip of the fifth, the Irish facet of the Eire-England conflict was nicely on high, even dominating.
There was sensible selection and dangerous intentions throughout the session as McKenna began to maneuver by way of the gears.
4 uppercuts in a row within the sixth symbolised how the combat was going, and transferring into the second half of the combat, a McKenna stoppage appeared the most probably end result.
Many predicted Smith would take over from six on, however the seventh noticed him ship some actual punishment from a fluid, nonetheless recent, and doubtlessly deadly McKenna.
The Feargal McKenna-trained well-travelled boxer had utterly ditched the field and transfer method by eight and 9 and was beating one in every of 4 boxing brothers at his personal recreation. He held his toes and was having fun with the combat, though the abilities and selection remained.
To his credit score, Smith was nonetheless there, nonetheless throwing and nonetheless making an attempt, however ‘The Silencer’ was beating him in each division.
McKenna continued to seem like a champion in ready throughout the championship rounds.
In reality, he closed the present brilliantly by dominating the rounds he was meant to battle in. The brand new middleweight title flirted with placing the icing on the cake when dropping Smith with an excellent lengthy left hook to the physique within the final.
Nonetheless, the Liverpool native confirmed his toughness to achieve the ultimate bell.
