Aaron McKenna has his eyes on the prize

The well-travelled Aaron McKenna needed his passport once again to travel to Japan recently to take part in ‘Prizefighter’. Before that Matt Bozeat spoke to the Irishman about his spot in the revamped competition, sparring Terence Crawford and much more.

AS it turns out, Boxing News aren’t the first to ask Aaron McKenna what he would spend his money on should he become Eddie Hearn’s million-dollar middleweight.

Hearn has polished and revamped the ‘Prizefighter’ format that helped revive Matchroom Boxing more than a decade ago.

The original ‘Prizefighter’ was a fun, three-round tournament that pushed on prospects and brought back veterans in the space of a few action-packed hours.

The new version starts in Japan on Monday and brings together eight unbeaten middleweights – combined record 112-11-5 – to fight over 10 and then 12 rounds over the coming months with the winner walking away with $1 million.

It starts in Osaka on Monday when McKenna (18-0, 9 KOs) faces Jeovanny Estella (14-0, 5 KOs), with the other quarter finals between Ainiwaer Yilixiati (19-1, 14 KOs) and Kieron Conway (20-3-1, 5 KOs), Kazuto Takesako (16-2-1, 5 KOs) and Mark Dickinson (6-0, 2 KOs) and Riku Kunimoto (11-1, 5 KOs) and Eiki Kani (8-4-3, 4 KOs).

Note: Competition began on July 15, 2024. Conway, McKenna, Takesako and Kunimoto all advanced to the semi-finals.

The bookmakers fancy McKenna will be the last man standing – and richer for it.

“People always want to talk about the $1 million,” he said. “That is what catches their eyes.

“The money is life changing, but I‘m trying not to think about it. I want to stay focused on the fight ahead. I don’t want to get carried away. I want to win it and want to win it in style to send a message out there that I’m the best middleweight in the world.

“I’m going to show people why I think I’m the best middleweight in the world. I want everyone to know I’m here to take over.”

The plan was for the McKenna brothers to be karate champions. Fergal McKenna competed for Ireland in the martial art and fancied sons Gary, Stephen and Aaron want to follow in his footsteps.

“It was boring,” said Aaron, the youngest of the three siblings. “There wasn’t enough action for me. We went to the boxing gym at six years old and I fell in love with it.”

Fergal has given his sons the best of boxing educations. As a boy, Fergal trained alongside Barry McGuigan at Old School Amateur Boxing Club and soaked up “a wee bit of knowledge of the intensity and the preparation that’s needed.”

That was passed on to his sons and Aaron estimates he had 40-50 exhibition bouts before he started boxing competitively at 11 years old.

He went on to win 2011 European Schoolboy gold and 2014 European Junior silver in Russia and faced Devin Haney in the semi-finals of the 2011 Ringside World Championship in Kansas, losing a split decision.

“I’ve been all over the world,” said McKenna. “I have been going to the States since I was 16 and I’ve sparred fighters in gyms in Las Vegas, California and Mexico.

“I spent a year at Robert Garcia’s gym and I sparred Vergil Ortiz nearly every week, 10-round spars.

“He showed me little Mexican moves you don’t see UK and Irish fighters do. He taught me about holding them off, walking around the ring, not wasting energy.

“That’s what it takes to be a world champion. You have to do these things. You have to travel the world and learn as much as possible and see all the different styles.

“Imagine having all that experience and being only 24 years old?”

McKenna is 24 years old, 18-0 and is three wins away from winning $1 million.

As with every other prizefighter, McKenna has had his frustrations in his career. He spent 12 months out of action (December, 2019 to December, 2020) as US promoters Golden Boy struggled to get him fights and there was a further nine-month break between June 2022 and March 2023 after Mick Hennessy lost his contract with Channel Five.

The latest frustration came in January when former British title challenger Linus Udofia pulled out of their scheduled fight only days before. Mickey Ellison stepped in and was broken down in six rounds in Liverpool, a ninth stoppage for McKenna.

There’s an extra incentive for McKenna to force an early night in Japan with winners by stoppage dividing up a $100,000 pot.

“The knockout bonus is going to make the fights very exciting,” said McKenna. “Everyone will want that bonus. Every time I get in there its with the intention to knock out my opponent.”

He sees ‘Prizefighter’ as “a chance to put my name out there across the world,” adding: “This is the big one. This is the stuff dreams are made of. I’ve been trying to get these fights for a couple of years.

“Any time I have got a big fight lined up they have pulled out the week of the fight. I’m 18-0 now and 24 years old and this has come along at the right stage of my career. It was difficult to get matched against a big name. Now I’m guaranteed three fights. This is the right time to show what level I’m at.

“This is what all the years of hard work and sacrifice were for. I have been training my whole life for a moment like this.”

McKenna started training for ‘Prizefighter’ in his back garden!

“We have a gym built there,” he said, “and it has everything we need. There’s strength equipment and boxing equipment. We are out there every day training and then when we get a date we head to the United States and the UK for sparring.”

Sparring partners over the last few months have included Terence Crawford.

“We were in Las Vegas for a month and got sparring organised with him at the UFC APEX gym,” said McKenna. “I did 10 four-minutes round with a 30-second break with Steve Nelson, Lester Martinez and Terence Crawford.

“I did five rounds with him [Crawford] and it was like a game of chess. I had to stay switched on every second I was in there because he was always trying to lay traps and set me up for something.”

McKenna made a good impression.

“Bo Mac (trainer Brian McIntyre) and Terence were very impressed with us,” he said. “They were saying they want us back for more sparring.

“That’s great to hear from someone I rate the pound-for-pound No 1 in the world.”