Gavan Casey Reports from the 3Arena

ALMOST A DECADE after he turned professional as a teenager, Aaron McKenna fulfilled his career-long promise.

The undefeated Monaghan man produced a masterful display to earn a unanimous-decision victory over Italy’s Etinosa Oliha at the 3Arena, Dublin, to claim the vacant IBF middleweight world title.

McKenna becomes only Ireland’s fourth-ever world champion in the division, following Jack ‘Nonpareil’ Dempsey — the division’s initial ruler — as well as Steve Collins and Andy Lee in more recent years.

McKenna outboxed and outclassed Oliha, the strut in his step becoming more conspicuous as the rounds progressed, the Italian befuddled by the elite talent who continued to pepper him from every range.

After a display of technical brilliance, McKenna was awarded the contest on judges scores of 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112.

Following the verdict, ‘The Silencer’ bounded atop the ropes at the 3Arena where he was serenaded by a boisterous, Monaghan-heavy crowd in its thousands, many of them kitted out in their county colours for one of their biggest non-Gaelic football nights since the days of Barry McGuigan.

They were already frothing before McKenna’s ring entrance segued from Sinéad O’Connor’s rendition of ‘The Foggy Due’ to ‘Insomnia’ by Faithless, but the dance anthem upped the ante as tricolours and Monaghan flags billowed across the ring from the press seats.

A chorus of ‘Olé Olé’ before first bell soon gave way to an even louder chant of, ‘Do-do-do-do-do, Farney Army!’, and the IBF middleweight world title will tonight find a bed in the McKennas’ family home of Smithborough, from where Aaron trains under his father, Fergal, in their backyard gym.

Fergal and Aaron’s brother, Stevie, who also earned victory on this Zuffa Boxing card, were emotional as McKenna was crowned world champion, joining Katie Taylor and Anthony Cacace — the latter of whom was in attendance — as a reigning Irish beltholder.

Aaron himself was uncharacteristically buoyant in victory, recalling the dream he had to experience this exact moment as a 16-year-old, 11 years ago.

When the bout began, McKenna started razor-sharp behind his jab. While his reach advantage over Oliha was only half and inch, he used his longer frame to establish a safe distance, gradually finding his range as both men sussed each other out.

It was, in essence, a feeling-out round, but one plainly won by McKenna, the more active of the pair throughout.

Oliha landed a one-two in the first minute of the second round which roused his corner. The home fighter responded, but the Italian appeared to gain confidence from that success, throwing another jab-right-hand combination which McKenna partly blocked with his guard, but which still reverberated through his body. 20-20, or 1-1 in rounds.

McKenna was yet to earn Oliha’s respect with a power shot, but he pieced together a nice three-punch combination, finished with a left uppercut upstairs, which brought the home crowd to its feet in the second minute of the third. The pair traded briefly towards the bell, with McKenna edging the exchange, which felt like enough to win a close round.

McKenna’s jab remained the most potent weapon of the fight heading into the fourth. The boxers, having each swallowed a couple of power shots, began to meet at closer quarters than was the case early doors.

McKenna found success to Oliha’s body on a couple of occasions in Round 4, mostly outboxing his visitor, albeit Oliha did land one tidy left uppercut upstairs during a phonebooth exchange. It left his host unfazed, but it was a rare scoring shot in another round of tense, limited action.

McKenna decidedly sought to gain the front foot to start the fifth, taking a three-punch combination to his ribs for his efforts. The Italian might have nicked the round with the more accurate shots landed to McKenna’s head, albeit the best shot of the round may have belonged to McKenna, who stung Oliha over the top with a straight right.

Heading into Round 6, it felt likely that McKenna was up 3-2 at the least.

McKenna certainly shaded the sixth, a clinch-fest for the most part, with the Farney man producing the only tidy work of note as he battled out of Oliha’s clutches. His footwork was also superior to that of the Italian, who was untroubled by McKenna’s power but occasionally caught on the swivel as the taller man darted in and out of range.

A higher-octane seventh saw both men find success to the top deck, but it was McKenna who was again the classier, flashier boxer of the pair, his efforts of course aided by the home crowd. While this was still every bit a live fight, the Monaghan man appeared the more comfortable, finding his groove as Oliha clambered around for answers to this increasingly difficult puzzle.

The Italian landed a three-punch combo towards the halfway mark of the eighth, but it was again met by his host, who temporarily switched to southpaw and peppered his opponent with two quickfire left hooks to the jaw.

There was an awkward urgency to Oliha, now, who clearly sensed that the man opposite him was geared to take his personal dream back to Smithborough. McKenna stared him square in the eyes for a couple of seconds as they crossed paths en route to their corners at the end of the eighth.

Into the ninth, and McKenna was beginning not only to outbox his opponent, but outmuscle him, edging their close-quarter exchanges as the Monaghan massive grew increasingly vociferous in the 3Arena stands.

Oliha attempted to rally in the 10th but ran into more stern McKenna work, ‘The Silencer’ again bringing The Point audience to its feet as he punctuated the round with one of his more vicious attacks from the outside.

Barring disaster, McKenna was home and hosed, with only the championship rounds to survive. Oliha, with 10 knockouts from his 22 victories, had scarcely put a dent in him, and so a calamity felt highly unlikely.

As a chant of ‘Oh, Aaron McKenna’ rang around the room, the home boxer responded accordingly, popping Olihia with a beautifully timed right hand after a clinch. Oliha sneaked in a thudding left of his own, but McKenna was mostly neutralising his increasingly desperate lunges in the clinch and with returned fire.

McKenna, a full-time boxer since his teens, looked supremely conditioned, too, as though he had at least five or six more rounds in him. After he pinged Oliha with an overhand right towards the end of the 11th, he nodded at his opponent and beckoned him forward before firing another, the crowd enjoying a rare display of braggadocio by the most polite of Irish sportsmen.

McKenna was three minutes away from entering the annals of Irish and world boxing, and the crowd responded accordingly as the bell sounded to start the 12th and final round.

With one minute and 50 seconds remaining, the entire 3Arena rose, everyone in attendance stomping their feet and chanting McKenna’s name to deafening effect.

McKenna proceeded to box the ears off Oliha once more, peppering him from range and tying him up at will. There were whistles from the crowd approaching the final 20 seconds, as though the referee had the power to blow the full-time whistle there and then. He didn’t need to.

McKenna, and everybody in attendance, celebrated wildly at the final bell. The job was done.

There’s a middleweight world title heading to The Farney.