The last time Aaron McKenna stepped through the ropes was back in December 2019, as the Monaghan man maintained his 100% professional record with a facile, knock-out win against Victor Gaytan in California.
Victory number ten for the emerging Smithborough native, now fighting out of Los Angeles, amongst world champions and future superstars of the sport, as part of the iconic and world-renowned Golden Boy stable.
Home for Christmas last year, spending quality time with the family in the border town, McKenna was planning an assault on 2020, ready to make a real impact in the super-welterweight division and secure a world ranking by year's end.
McKenna’s first scheduled fight of the year coincided with the arrival of the coronavirus, and subsequent travel restrictions have meant that the 21-year-old has been starved of that Californian sunshine, and has had to readjust to a life less ordinary back home amidst the stony grey soil of his native county.
The sporting life is a career where longevity rarely reaches beyond a decent decade, especially in the relentless world of a professional boxer, however, the McKenna camp does not view 2020 as a lost year, but rather a period of time, where the future world title prospect will emerge ahead of the pack as a result of bedding down, fine-tuning the craft and getting stronger.
And Team McKenna believes that the year out of the ring will ultimately prove priceless moving among the world-rated fighters in future years.
Promoted by Oscar de la Hoya’s Golden Boy and trained by the legendary Freddie Roach at the renowned Wild Card Gym in Los Angeles, McKenna has spent the last few years in esteemed company, regularly training with world champions – fellow Golden Boy contender Virgil Ortiz Jr is a regular sparring partner Stateside.
McKenna’s father, Fergal, built a home gym, complete with boxing ring in the back yard of the family home to help his two sons achieve their dreams, after they had having shown such promise in the amateur ranks, and life in this Covid era has been like one long training camp, working alongside older brother and fellow professional Stevie.
And McKenna is now eager to get back in the ring, as he fights on the undercard of Sam Eggington's clash with Ashley Theophane in Worcestershire, England on Friday night.
The Monaghan prospect is expected to take little time dusting off the cobwebs and should chalk up a straightforward 11th pro victory before setting his sights on big fights in the new year.
And McKenna expects to be back in Los Angeles picking up where he left off, at some stage in early 2021, once restrictions are lifted and fight cards become more regular across the States.
"It went quick, the time is flying, it feels like just yesterday since I fought," said McKenna, speaking to RTÉ Sport ahead of Friday's fight.
"I’ve been staying ready. I’ve been training away here in Ireland with Stephen, doing everything that we usually do in training camps so we didn’t miss out on any training at all.
"This fight will be like a maintenance fight because I have been out of the ring for so long. Then I want to fight early next year and stay as busy as I can.
"Any fight I can get next year, I’ll take it. So I’ll keep trying to get more fights over in England before I go back to America."
And while Friday night's fight should prove a formality for McKenna, the former European schoolboy champion, is ready to step up the levels to get a ranking as soon as possible and even sees a world title fight in the making by the end of 2021.
"I'd love to fight for an Irish title or a European title. The plan would be to have two or three ten round fights, before I take on the world champion, so if I can get myself up the rankings it would be easy to make.
"As soon as I go back to America, I’ll take a big fight. I’d even take a fight with the world champion who is also with Golden Boy, Patrick Teixeira.
"Even though it was a year that I didn't fight, it was a year that I learned a lot and I was filling out too. I'm feeling very strong at the moment and I’m hitting harder than I was 12 months ago. I’m only 21 years old and I’m starting to get my man strength."
Stevie McKenna (above, in blue shorts) is two years older than brother Aaron and has only fought half the amount of times of his sibling.
Aptly named, the Hitman is also set to shine on the Hennessey Promotions fight card on Friday, which will be shown live on Channel 5.
The elder of the fighting McKenna brothers also enjoys a 100% winning start to his fledgling professional career and has five victories since his debut in April of last year – remarkably, McKenna has only fought six rounds so far, with four knock-outs coming in the opening round, with one game opponent making it all the way to round two.
Stevie followed Aaron over to Los Angeles, and while he is not promoted by Golden Boy - he has just put pen to paper on a promotion deal with Hennessey Sports in Englad - he is very much part of the furniture at the Wild Card Gym under the tutelage of Roach who sees real potential in the hard-hitting 23-year-old.
Standing an inch shorter than his younger brother at 6ft 1in, Stevie is quite comfortable fighting at 140lbs and looks set to be a destructive force in the super-lightweight division.
Friday night’s fight will be Stevie’s second of the year, having dismantled Scottish journeyman Gary McGuire (pictured below) in September. The two fighters shared a quick chat at the end of the barnstorming display, and his seasoned opponent predicted that no-one would want to fight him at the weight and that he had never been hit so hard.
The McKenna brothers are looking to bring back the style of the renowned entertaining brawlers of the 1980s like Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns and a young Mike Tyson, and so far, at least, they are living up to that tag.
The brothers' father, Fergal, has been instrumental in their career and also moved to Los Angeles to take an active role in their move through the professional ranks and he expects big things to happen.
Aaron’s path will be mapped out in accordance with the top Golden Boy prospects and Fergal expects him to be ready for a world title shot over the next 12 months, while Stevie made a name for himself after his last explosive fight in England and now is in demand to feature on live television shows.
Stevie is also expected to nail down a ranking within the next 12 months and appears to be on a fast track to the top, while also learning on the job as his style requires an equal amount of discipline as he found out in that last fight.
A series of windmill-style punches rained down on his opponent and one connected just after McGuire touched down, which brought some stern words from the referee.
And should he pursue his path on this side of the Atlantic, he acknowledged that the refereeing styles are very different on both sides of the ponds.
"Over in America, the referees jump in and pull you off them before they go down," said Stevie.
"I'm not used to fighting in the UK and it is something that I have to work on, and I have worked on in the gym, staying very disciplined and careful.
"My Dad has warned me, that you have to stay disciplined and you cannot risk anything that might get you disqualified.
"I threw a punch as the guy was going down. It was unfortunate that it happened but I was happy that he got up and continued on the fight."
Friday night’s fight will, no doubt, be another blink-and-you'll-miss-it encounter for the determined McKenna, and he will do it all again seven days later as he is set to fight on a similar card in the build up to Christmas.
The brothers set off for the English midlands earlier this week and were bound to a Birmingham bubble until cleared of Covid ahead of Thursday's weigh-in.
"We're going to put on a show for everyone; I've done over 150 rounds of sparring for this camp," said McKenna.
"I’ll fight anyone, keep building, keep getting better and better, and keep knocking these guys out. And hopefully this time next year, I’ll be in the top 15 world rankings and maybe fighting for a title."
