MONAGHAN TEENAGER AARON McKenna will make his much-anticipated professional debut at Madison Square Garden on 2 December.
An eight-time national champion in the underage ranks, McKenna – who fought out of Old School Boxing Club in Smithborough while based in Ireland – inked a promotional deal with Oscar De La Hoya’s Golden Boy in early September, in doing so becoming Ireland’s youngest pro boxer at the age of 18.
The 2014 European Junior silver medallist will make his bow in the paid ranks on the undercard of future Hall-of-Famer Miguel Cotto’s farewell bout with Sadam Ali in a fortnight’s time, and will open the RingTV.com live stream of the bill.
‘The Silencer’, who accrued a record of 152-9 during his prodigious amateur career, will take to the ring at The Garden’s 20,789-capcity main arena, following in the footsteps of fellow Ulsterman Michael Conlan who opened his professional account a floor below back in March.
His opponent will be named ‘soon’ per his management team at Sheer Sports, who also guide the career of his Golden Boy stablemate, Jason ‘El Animal’ Quigley [13-0, 10KOs].
Newley signed to #GoldenBoy! 🇮🇪 Ireland's #1 ranked amateur boxer @aaronmckenna99 "Silencer" makes his anticipated pro debut Dec 2 @thegarden #CottoAli opening the https://t.co/MzhColIR2L livestream 7:00pm ET pic.twitter.com/37kWxNrqjy
— Golden Boy Boxing (@GoldenBoyBoxing) November 16, 2017
Brother of 2016 Senior Elite champion Stephen McKenna, he was initially slated to turn professional last year, then aged just 16, with a debut tentatively scheduled for Mexico due to American labour laws.
Having opted to wait, McKenna has been back and forth to the States since, sparring big names such as WBO super-bantamweight champ Jessie Magdaleno – a gym-mate of Quigley and Michael Conlan.
The Monaghan man is the youngest fighter signed to Golden Boy, and trains alongside father, Fergal, at Santa Monica’s Iron Gym.
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Best of luck to him.
Looks like a 12yr old Johnny Sexton :-)
(Not that I’d say it to his face!)
@PhillyVanilli:
From the Old School boxing club in Smithborough. I wonder is that the old Magherarney school opposite the Church where my late parents used be the teachers many decades ago.
@Donal Hanley: Yes Donal you are right it is where the old Magherarney school use to be. Thats were the name old school came from.
@Donal Hanley: Yes Donal you are right .Thats where the name old school boxing club came from.
Good luck kiddo. It takes hard work. Well done.
Fair play to him and best of luck, great to see him go pro at a young age rather than hang around for the IABA.
Good on him,he managed to get out of the dirty fight game that is Amateur Boxing .
@Brian O Reilly: the shenanigans in amateur boxing is kids stuff compared to the pro game.
Good wishes with fight. Bring back a win to Monaghan.
Journal. Its on Ringsidetv.live. Can you find out whether will be shown on BT sports or boxnation. It would be good to follow this young lad.
@The Viking: Hi there,
It won’t be on either as Aaron’s going to be on too early for their broadcast – around midnight our time – but it’ll be streaming for free on RingTV.com (The RING Magazine’s website). Easy to find and usually perfect quality. It’s a full, professional broadcast with commentators etc.
Not a boxing expert but is it not unusual for boxers to turn pro so young in Ireland? Most seem to give the Olympics at least one go.
@Joseph Bloggs: Says more about the state of the amateur boxing in Ireland, I’m sure he’s being well advised by his family.
@Joseph Bloggs: after the loss of Billy Walsh, the funding cuts to boxing, the fact that the international body AIBA are corrupt, all show that there’s not much place for amateur boxers from Ireland today. His club will be thrilled for him and he’ll be making a few quid for himself. There are lots of professional boxers in various smaller promotions in Ireland and that game can be very tough, but if he’s in New York at this age the future looks very bright for him.
@Darren Bates: Boxing at every level is corrupt. You only have to look at De La Hoyas last promotion to see that. The decision in the Canelo GGG fight that gave 8 rounds to De la Hoyas fighter Canelo was only the latest in an almost constant stream of shocking judgements. Something needs to change in how boxing is scored and judged because if you don’t knock your opponent out dirty money will decide the fight every single time. It’s a farce at times.
@Darren Bates: No one is denying that Billy Walsh was a huge loss but otherwise I think you are being unfair about amateur boxing here. Theres a lot on investment in the sport . The girls team are in India at the moment. It’s still the way to put in your time and get the training and come away with medals.
He wil also kill someone in single punch
Good on him. Very best of luck.