Last week, I asked whether Aaron McKenna could become the new face of Irish boxing.
Well, we got part of the answer on Saturday night.
Aaron McKenna is now a world champion.
The 27-year-old defeated the previously unbeaten Etinosa Oliha by unanimous decision at Dublin’s 3Arena to win the vacant IBF middleweight world title, with the judges scoring the fight 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112.
It was McKenna’s first professional fight in Ireland. It was his first world-title fight. He had the expectation of a home crowd behind him and an unbeaten opponent standing across the ring.
And he won.
That is the most important thing.
But now the celebrations have started to settle down, I think there is a much more interesting question to ask.
What did we actually learn about Aaron McKenna?
Because becoming a world champion and establishing yourself as the best fighter in a division aren’t necessarily the same thing.
Saturday proved McKenna was good enough to win a world title.
I’m not sure it proved how good he can eventually become.
Aaron McKenna Passed the Test That Mattered Most
Before we start picking apart the performance, I think we need to give Aaron McKenna the credit he deserves.
He was facing an unbeaten fighter in Etinosa Oliha, a former IBO middleweight champion who hadn’t travelled to Dublin simply to make up the numbers.
McKenna was also dealing with circumstances he had never experienced before.
There is a huge difference between fighting on somebody else’s show as the promising contender and walking into an arena full of people who expect you to become world champion.
Especially when you’re fighting at home professionally for the first time.
That pressure can change fighters.
We’ve seen plenty of boxers get carried away by a home crowd, start looking for the spectacular finish and completely abandon whatever game plan they spent weeks preparing.
McKenna didn’t do that.
For large periods, he controlled the fight, stayed composed and boxed his way through twelve rounds.
That last part matters more than some people will probably give him credit for.
Going Twelve Rounds Isn’t a Negative
There is a strange attitude in boxing where an exciting fighter suddenly gets criticised when somebody lasts the distance with them.
If Aaron McKenna had knocked Oliha out in four rounds, we’d probably be talking about a devastating statement from Ireland’s newest superstar.
Because he had to go twelve rounds, inevitably some people will ask whether the performance was quite as impressive as expected.
I actually think the twelve rounds might have been better for him.
Oliha was unbeaten for a reason.
He had genuine pedigree, had previously held the IBO middleweight title and came into the fight believing he could leave Dublin with the IBF belt himself.
McKenna therefore had to experience something he hadn’t experienced before.
He had to solve problems over a full championship distance.
He had to keep thinking when he was tired.
He had to deal with an opponent who was still there after his best work.
He had to respond when Oliha had success of his own.
You can spend months sparring twelve rounds in the gym, but it isn’t the same as doing it when a world championship is on the line.
Aaron McKenna now knows he can do it.
That’s valuable.
But Oliha Did Have Success
This is where I think we need to separate celebrating Aaron McKenna becoming world champion from pretending he produced a perfect performance.
He didn’t.
There were periods when Oliha had success, particularly when he could force McKenna into exchanges and land meaningful punches of his own.
That doesn’t suddenly mean McKenna isn’t good enough.
He won the fight clearly.
But when we’re trying to work out whether Aaron McKenna can go from being a world champion to becoming the dominant middleweight of his generation, those moments become interesting.
McKenna looked at his best when he was controlling the distance and dictating how the fight was being fought.
When Oliha could make things uncomfortable, there were moments where McKenna looked considerably less in control.
Against Oliha, he dealt with them.
The question is what happens when the man standing opposite him is better at exploiting those moments.
Because the standard changes from here.
Aaron McKenna Isn’t Chasing the Champions Anymore
This is probably the biggest change Saturday night created.
Before the weekend, Aaron McKenna was the challenger trying to prove he belonged among the world’s best middleweights.
Now he has the IBF belt.
People are coming after him.
That completely changes the way we should judge what comes next.
Nobody can take Saturday away from him. Becoming a world champion is something the overwhelming majority of professional boxers will never achieve.
But winning a world title doesn’t automatically mean you’ve reached the top of the mountain.
Sometimes it simply gives you permission to start climbing the next part.
We’ve seen plenty of fighters become world champions.
Far fewer become the fighter everyone else in their division is trying to beat.
That is the challenge facing Aaron McKenna now.
Can he defend the title?
Can he deal with mandatory challengers?
Can he eventually unify?
And, perhaps most importantly, can he continue improving now that he has achieved something he has spent his entire career chasing?
This Is Where We Find Out What McKenna Really Is
I think Saturday night probably told us more about Aaron McKenna than a spectacular knockout would have.
If he’d blown Oliha away inside three or four rounds, we’d have had the highlight reel and everybody would have spent the next week talking about how dangerous McKenna is.
Instead, we got twelve rounds.
We got to see him when things were going well.
We got to see him when Oliha was having success.
We got to see him manage the occasion.
We got to see him maintain his boxing over a distance he had never previously experienced professionally.
And we got to see areas where there is still room for improvement.
That last point isn’t criticism.
Aaron McKenna is 27 years old and has just had his first world-title fight.
I’d be more surprised if there weren’t things to improve.
The interesting part now is whether Saturday represents something close to McKenna’s ceiling or simply the first version of him as a world-level fighter.
I suspect it’s the latter.
Irish Boxing Suddenly Has Another World Champion
There is also the bigger picture.
Last week’s article wasn’t really about whether Aaron McKenna could beat Etinosa Oliha.
It was about whether McKenna could become one of the fighters capable of carrying Irish boxing into its next era.
Katie Taylor has been the face of Irish boxing for so long that imagining the sport without her at the centre of it still feels strange.
But that day is coming.
Ireland needs the next generation to emerge.
Aaron McKenna becoming IBF middleweight champion doesn’t suddenly mean he replaces Taylor.
That would be a ridiculous expectation to put on anybody.
But he has just done the one thing every fighter hoping to become a major figure needs to do.
He has given people a reason to care about what happens next.
The next Aaron McKenna fight isn’t about whether the promising Irish middleweight can make the jump to world level anymore.
It’s a world champion defending his position.
That is a completely different conversation.
And if McKenna can build on Saturday night, keep improving and eventually turn that IBF title into bigger fights and perhaps even unification opportunities, Ireland might have found one of the fighters capable of carrying the sport forward.
Not because somebody decided he should be the next face of Irish boxing.
Because he earned the right to be in that conversation.
Being World Champion Is the Beginning, Not the Answer
I think this is where I’ve landed after watching Aaron McKenna become world champion.
I’m probably more convinced by him than I was before Saturday.
Not because he dominated every second.
Not because he produced some spectacular knockout that will be replayed for years.
But because he had to work things out.
Oliha gave him problems.
McKenna dealt with them.
The occasion could have overwhelmed him.
It didn’t.
He had never fought twelve professional rounds before.
He managed them.
Those are things we didn’t know for certain about Aaron McKenna last week.
We do now.
But there are still questions.
We don’t yet know whether he can dominate this level.
We don’t know what happens against another world champion.
We don’t know whether the weaknesses Oliha occasionally exposed become bigger problems against better opposition.
And we don’t know whether we’re looking at a very good world champion or somebody capable of becoming one of the defining middleweights of his era.
That’s what makes what comes next so interesting.
Last week, I asked whether Aaron McKenna could become the new face of Irish boxing.
Seven days later, he’s the IBF middleweight champion.
So perhaps the question has already changed.
We know Aaron McKenna is good enough to become a world champion. Now we get to find out whether he’s good enough to become a great one.
Where Do You Stand on Aaron McKenna Now?
Did Saturday night convince you that Aaron McKenna has what it takes to become the dominant force at middleweight, or did Etinosa Oliha expose areas that could become problems against the division’s very best?
I’d love to know what you think.
Share the article, leave your thoughts and join the discussion. And if you enjoyed this piece, head over to CMBoxing for more boxing opinion, analysis, fighter profiles and discussion from across the sport.