AARON MCKENNA AND Etinosa Oliha have made weight for their Saturday-night headline bout in Dublin, meaning the vacant IBF World middleweight title will be up for grabs for both men at the 3Arena.
Weighing in behind closed doors this morning ahead of Friday evening’s ceremonial face-off, Monaghan’s McKenna was the heavier of the two challengers, ‘The Silencer’ tipping the scales at 159.6lbs (the middleweight limit is 160), while Italian Oliha came in at 159lbs on the button.
McKenna [20-0, 10KOS] and Oliha [22-0, 10KOs] will square off in a world-title bout on a show promoted by Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in Ireland (coverage begins at 7pm on Saturday).
The 27-year-old McKenna will seek to join Andy Lee, Steve Collins and the first-ever world champion in the division, Nonpareil Jack Dempsey, on the short list of Irish-born middleweights to claim global honours. Oliha, meanwhile, a year McKenna’s senior, would become Italy’s first world champion at any weight for 10 years should he stun the home crowd in Dublin.
Aaron McKenna put on a star-making performance last time out to beat Liam Smith on the biggest of stages 🤩
'The Silencer' gets a shot at the IBF middleweight title against Etinosa Oliha at Zuffa Boxing 10 in Dublin 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/8yrjlIAgWg
In the chief support on Saturday night, rising Cork star Callum Walsh (160lbs) faces a step up against England’s former European middleweight champion Tyler Denny (159.7lbs).
The 25-year-old Walsh [16-0, 11KOs] will fight for the second time up at middleweight — his promoters, Zuffa Boxing, currently don’t recognise his previous category of light-middleweight — against the more seasoned Denny [24-4-3, 1KO], the 35-year-old who took the unbeaten record of Felix Cash to claim the EBU European belt in 2024.
Denny was subsequently stopped by current world champion Hamzah Sheeraz and more recently dropped a points decision to another unbeaten man in George Liddard, but he holds several impressive victories over fancied opponents and may carry a size advantage into Saturday’s bout with Walsh.
Elsewhere on the card, Irish amateur great Joe Ward weighed in at 174.4lbs ahead of his light-heavyweight clash with Artjom Kasparian, who was two tenths of a pound lighter.
Ward [12-1, 8KOs], who recently signed with Zuffa Boxing, will return from a two-year lay-off in a dangerous fight with the Cheshire-based Dutch puncher [14-0, 12KOs].
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Aaron McKenna and Etinosa Oliha on weight for middleweight world-title bout at 3Arena
AARON MCKENNA AND Etinosa Oliha have made weight for their Saturday-night headline bout in Dublin, meaning the vacant IBF World middleweight title will be up for grabs for both men at the 3Arena.
Weighing in behind closed doors this morning ahead of Friday evening’s ceremonial face-off, Monaghan’s McKenna was the heavier of the two challengers, ‘The Silencer’ tipping the scales at 159.6lbs (the middleweight limit is 160), while Italian Oliha came in at 159lbs on the button.
McKenna [20-0, 10KOS] and Oliha [22-0, 10KOs] will square off in a world-title bout on a show promoted by Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports in Ireland (coverage begins at 7pm on Saturday).
The 27-year-old McKenna will seek to join Andy Lee, Steve Collins and the first-ever world champion in the division, Nonpareil Jack Dempsey, on the short list of Irish-born middleweights to claim global honours. Oliha, meanwhile, a year McKenna’s senior, would become Italy’s first world champion at any weight for 10 years should he stun the home crowd in Dublin.
In the chief support on Saturday night, rising Cork star Callum Walsh (160lbs) faces a step up against England’s former European middleweight champion Tyler Denny (159.7lbs).
The 25-year-old Walsh [16-0, 11KOs] will fight for the second time up at middleweight — his promoters, Zuffa Boxing, currently don’t recognise his previous category of light-middleweight — against the more seasoned Denny [24-4-3, 1KO], the 35-year-old who took the unbeaten record of Felix Cash to claim the EBU European belt in 2024.
Denny was subsequently stopped by current world champion Hamzah Sheeraz and more recently dropped a points decision to another unbeaten man in George Liddard, but he holds several impressive victories over fancied opponents and may carry a size advantage into Saturday’s bout with Walsh.
Elsewhere on the card, Irish amateur great Joe Ward weighed in at 174.4lbs ahead of his light-heavyweight clash with Artjom Kasparian, who was two tenths of a pound lighter.
Ward [12-1, 8KOs], who recently signed with Zuffa Boxing, will return from a two-year lay-off in a dangerous fight with the Cheshire-based Dutch puncher [14-0, 12KOs].
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