AARON MCKENNA WILL face Liverpool’s former world champion Liam Smith on the undercard of Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr’s showdown at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday 26 April.
Monaghan middleweight McKenna (19-0, 10KOs) had been scheduled to compete in a $1m Prizefighter-style tournament in Japan last year only for the competition to fall through following his impressive 10th-round stoppage over fellow unbeaten prospect Jeovanny Estela at the quarter-final stage in July.
‘The Silencer’, 25, will instead return to the ring against the experienced ‘Beefy’ Smith [33-4-1, 20KOs], 11 years his senior, who in his last two contests violently inflicted a first stoppage defeat on Eubank Jr before suffering a reversal in their rematch.
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Smith, who held a light-middleweight world title before being stopped by Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in 2016, has been inactive for the past 18 months but re-signed with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing on Wednesday.
Despite his age and potential rust, Smith will prove a significant step up in class for McKenna, who is these days based at home in Smithborough having spent the early years of his professional career under the Golden Boy Promotions banner in Los Angeles.
The victor of their crossroads bout will firmly enter the frame for a world-title shot.
The card at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will be the first ever to be promoted by Ring Magazine, which was recently acquired from Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy by Saudi boxing mogul Turki Alalshikh.
Headlining the event in North London will be a second-generation grudge match between Conor Benn [23-0, 14KOs] and Chris Eubank Jr [34-3, 25KOs], whose initially manufactured rivalry has become legitimately bitter.
The pair were originally scheduled to meet two years ago only for Benn to fail two drug tests.
Benn, who has always sworn his innocence, had his provisional suspension lifted in November of last year when Britain’s independent National Anti-Doping Panel ruled that it was ‘not comfortably satisfied’ that UK Anti-Doping had proven Benn had committed a violation for use of clomifene, a substance which can be used to boost testosterone levels in men.
While Benn was suspended in the UK, however, he boxed twice under state licences in America.
Whereas Benn has campaigned at welterweight (147lbs) throughout his career, his long-awaited showdown with Eubank will take place up at middleweight (160lbs).
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Aaron McKenna to face Liverpool's Liam Smith on Benn-Eubank Jr stadium show
AARON MCKENNA WILL face Liverpool’s former world champion Liam Smith on the undercard of Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr’s showdown at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday 26 April.
Monaghan middleweight McKenna (19-0, 10KOs) had been scheduled to compete in a $1m Prizefighter-style tournament in Japan last year only for the competition to fall through following his impressive 10th-round stoppage over fellow unbeaten prospect Jeovanny Estela at the quarter-final stage in July.
‘The Silencer’, 25, will instead return to the ring against the experienced ‘Beefy’ Smith [33-4-1, 20KOs], 11 years his senior, who in his last two contests violently inflicted a first stoppage defeat on Eubank Jr before suffering a reversal in their rematch.
Smith, who held a light-middleweight world title before being stopped by Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez in 2016, has been inactive for the past 18 months but re-signed with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing on Wednesday.
Despite his age and potential rust, Smith will prove a significant step up in class for McKenna, who is these days based at home in Smithborough having spent the early years of his professional career under the Golden Boy Promotions banner in Los Angeles.
The victor of their crossroads bout will firmly enter the frame for a world-title shot.
The card at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will be the first ever to be promoted by Ring Magazine, which was recently acquired from Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy by Saudi boxing mogul Turki Alalshikh.
Headlining the event in North London will be a second-generation grudge match between Conor Benn [23-0, 14KOs] and Chris Eubank Jr [34-3, 25KOs], whose initially manufactured rivalry has become legitimately bitter.
The pair were originally scheduled to meet two years ago only for Benn to fail two drug tests.
Benn, who has always sworn his innocence, had his provisional suspension lifted in November of last year when Britain’s independent National Anti-Doping Panel ruled that it was ‘not comfortably satisfied’ that UK Anti-Doping had proven Benn had committed a violation for use of clomifene, a substance which can be used to boost testosterone levels in men.
While Benn was suspended in the UK, however, he boxed twice under state licences in America.
Whereas Benn has campaigned at welterweight (147lbs) throughout his career, his long-awaited showdown with Eubank will take place up at middleweight (160lbs).
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