Just over two years ago, 18-year-old Aaron McKenna signed a deal with the world renowned Golden Boy Promotions and within a couple of months made his professional debut on a world title boxing card in Las Vegas.
Two years on and the young Monaghan prospect has won 10 out of 10 in the paid ranks, while his brother Stevie, an Irish amateur senior champion, has subsequently joined his younger sibling in Los Angeles and has also turned professional.
Four out of four for the 22-year-old throughout 2019, with all four wins coming by way of knockout, as the elder McKenna brother looks to live up to his nickname of 'The Hitman'.
RTÉ Sport caught up with Aaron and Stevie, along with coach and father Fergal, during their Christmas break back home in Smithborough, and expectations are high going into 2020 as both fighters look to maintain their unblemished records.
"Over the last 12 months, the two boys have made tremendous improvements," explains McKenna senior, who believes that the decision to move from Monaghan to California has already reaped dividends.
"The sparring that they are getting has led to an astonishing improvement, because we are getting world class sparring. We're in with [reigning world super lightweight champion] Jose Ramirez and [unbeaten welterweight prospect] Virgil Ortiz, day-in, day-out, the boys are doing anywhere between six and eight rounds on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
"You cannot but improve. That's the advantage of being in LA."
Stevie McKenna also spoke of the experience that he gained from sparring one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet, Vasyl Lomachenko.
"To share the ring with him was unbelievable," recalls Stevie, who got to spar the WBO and WBA lightweight world champion ahead of his first outing in the paid ranks.
"I'm 4-0 now, with four knockouts, so all is going good and we are really enjoying ourselves out in LA.
"We are gaining great experience, fighting against top guys.
"I was Jose Ramirez's chief sparring partner for his last world title fight against Maurice Hooker.
"And I have sparred with Lomachenko as well, arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world.
"He said thanks for the sparring and was happy. And I actually had to spar him as a southpaw as well because he was fighting Jose Pedraza
"I can fight both styles and I did five rounds with him. It was really good experience to share the ring with him, and that was before I made my pro debut.
"So once I was going into my debut, I was going in very confident."
Looking ahead to 2020 and both Aaron and Stevie are expected to move up to ten-round encounters, which will hopefully lead to title bouts in 2021.
"We're looking for five fights for Aaron next year and we are hoping for the same for Stephen," said McKenna senior.
"Aaron should finish off the year with a ten rounder and we are looking to get him a ranking by the end of the year, which would be some achievement for a young man having just turned 20.
"And we are hoping that Stephen will follow the same path and also finish 2020 with a ten rounder.
"That will lead to 2021 and we will push hard to start calling out and looking for world titles.
"That's how fast that we want to move."
