AARON McKenna says he felt made for the big stage when he emerged from the shadows to box his way to a superb, landslide points win against former world champion Liam Smith in London on Saturday night.
From the first bell to the last, Monaghan middleweight McKenna was in charge against the experienced Liverpudlian. Tall and rangy, he was in control on the outside and, most impressively, also bossed the exchanges at close-quarters where Smith had been expected to dominate.
“Everything went to plan, it was just an amazing weekend,” said the new WBA international middleweight champion.
“This is what I have dreamt of. To do it in front of an audience of 67,000 people with all that pressure on the line… To put out a performance like that was amazing.
“Twenty years of hard work and training… All that dedication, sacrifice and hard work showed on Saturday night. Everything I was saying leading up to that fight – that I’d put on the performance of my life – all came true.
“Winning convincingly against a former world champion, a very good fighter… It’s just great.”
For a 25-year-old to step up against a seasoned and respected operator who had shared the ring with Canelo and knocked out Chris Eubank junior in 2023 and perform so brilliantly on such a massive stage was mighty impressive.
In the build-up there were concerns outside the McKenna camp that nerves would prevent him from producing his best but he had no such issues and looked relaxed and focussed as he made his way to the ring.
Dominating the first round set the tone for the next 11.
“The commentators and pundits weren’t expecting me to win,” he said.
“No-one expected me to win. They were expecting a 25-year-old who hadn’t fought on a big stage like that to find it hard but, as I said before, I’m a very experienced guy.
“I travelled all over the world as an amateur and as a pro sparring the best fighters in the world. As a professional, I haven’t felt any nerves, it’s like I’ve been made for the stage and on Saturday night it was no different.
“I’ve got that much belief in my ability and I’ve got much confidence in myself I know what I’m capable of doing. When I was walking out to the ring on Saturday night in front of all those people, it didn’t faze me one bit and I soaked it all in.”
In the first round on Saturday night McKenna switched stance and rammed a double jab off his right hand through bemused Smith’s defence. Throughout the fight he was able to alternate between orthodox and southpaw effortlessly and vary the speed of his movement and attacks.
“I’ve been saying for a long time now that you’ve only seen half of me,” he says.
“You haven’t seen the best of Aaron McKenna and it takes the best fighters to bring that out in me. Liam Smith brought out the best version of me and there’s still a lot more to see.
“I showed early on in the fight that I can switch to southpaw and no-one’s ever seen that from me before but I can do that quite comfortably. Even at one stage, I was beating him at his game, out-boxing him and out-strengthening him.
“He was expecting me probably to get tired. No-one thought that I could keep up the high pace for 12 rounds but I wasn’t even tired going into that 12th round.”
THE former Smithborough ABC and Ireland amateur star said he knew from early on in the fight that he would have too much for Smith who lost heavily on all three scorecards.
“My boxing skills were very good, so I knew I could out-box him,” he said.
“But you cannot switch off one second in this game, especially against Liam Smith. He’s a very experienced guy, he knows all the tricks of the game, all the little things.
“Not even for one second can you say to yourself: ‘I’ve got this in the bag’. I was always telling myself to keep doing what I’m doing and stay sharp. As the fight went on, I just kept picking it up more and really driving it into him.
“Right through every round, I just kept reminding myself to keep switched-on because a former world champion would know how to win a fight in any second in any round.”
A proud warrior, Smith went into the fight after a 19-month lay-off determined to show he still had the tools to mix-it at world level. McKenna made him look well past his best but ‘Beefy’ went down fighting after his Irish opponent had put him down with a thumping bodyshot in the final round.
“I caught him with a good body shot in the 12th and I knew that I had really hurt him,” said McKenna.
“I went in for the calculated finish, I didn’t want to go too wild. He was very smart, he was still there, he was still dangerous, coming back with good, strong shots, but I didn’t get carried away.”