David Benavidez has no shortage of HUGE fights on his radar. In an exclusive interview with BoxingScene, Jose Benavidez Sr. makes it clear that David still wants the biggest names at 175lbs including Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev. Benavidez has previously said those are two fights he wants to make as he pursues more titles and major challenges. But there’s another name that could make things very interesting: Andy Ruiz Jr. Jose discusses the possibility of an all-Mexican showdown between Benavidez and the former heavyweight champion, along with David’s plans across multiple divisions. And with a potential Jai Opetaia showdown also building after the pair came face-to-face following Opetaia’s latest victory, Benavidez has some massive options ahead.
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Mark Robinson / Matchroom BoxingThe middleweight contender Aaron McKenna is ready for the leading names and the champions – he is just waiting for the phone to ring.
Aaron McKenna
The US-based Irishman is 20-0 (10 KOs) and the “Silencer” is aged only 26.
He scored the win of his career in April, when notching a resounding decision victory over Liam Smith, but has not had any sign of activity since.
The victory over Smith came on the bill headlined by Chris Eubank Jnr and Conor Benn at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England, and with those two set to run it back on April 26, McKenna’s manager Mick Hennessy is hoping McKenna’s services will be called upon again.
“We’ve made it clear to Matchroom; we’ve made it clear to Riyadh Season, The Ring Magazine, that Aaron’s here; he’s ready; he’ll fight any of the current champions,” Hennessy told BoxingScene. “He’ll fight [Erislandy] Lara; he’ll fight [Carlos] Adames; we’ve made it clear we’d love the Adames fight.
“They’ve got history with sparring, and probably the best out of the lot of them, the Kazakh, Janibek [Alimkhanuly] – we’ve made it clear we’d take that fight as well. Aaron will fight any of those champions, no problem. Considering he’s a big lad, he’s 6ft 3, if there’s a mega fight or a super fight at super middleweight he’ll take that as well. He’s an old-school, no-nonsense fighter and he proved in that last fight that he’s great TV as well.
“He showed a bit of everything in that fight and for a young man to do what he’s done – I always knew he would, because I first saw him when he was 11 years of age and it was obvious to me that this young kid was going to do great things. He’s a brilliant talent.”
McKenna was mightily impressive against the Liverpool veteran Smith, even dropping him in the final round. His performance reinforced everything Hennessy already knew about the Irishman, who has sparred a who’s who of modern boxing on the way up.
“I thought it was a great fight,” Hennessy reflected. “Aaron can use all those skills and he can do it close up. He can do it off angles; he sits close to them at all times and he makes a great fight of it. And he showed that the thing about Aaron is the better the opponent, the better he’ll fight. And he’s done it as a baby; went and did it as a kid; went to the Ringside World Championships and was fighting the likes of Devin Haney. This kid doesn’t get the credit he deserves. They traveled out to [Jaime] Munguia’s backyard to Tijuana and just landed at the gym for sparring. It tells you what sort of characters the family is. They’re incredible boxing people and they just need more respect put on their name.”
Hennessy is referring not just to Aaron, but his 15-1 (14 KOs) brother Stephen and their father, Fergal.
The three of them have traveled far and wide, learning everything and sparring everyone, with Fergal taking his lads everywhere to improve them as fighters.
“It kind of sickens me when I see fighters that haven’t done what they’ve done or been prepared to do what they have been prepared to do and all the hype’s there and people are getting into a frenzy about them and I feel others should realize there’s a special fighter in Aaron and he’s not being given the backing he should be given,” Hennessy said.
“He won that brilliant fight against [Jeovanny] Estela and became favorite for the [Matchroom middleweight] tournament only for the tournament to be cut. He beat the favorite; he would have won that in style and winning that tournament would have elevated him to new levels, it’s just a shame the tournament got cut.
“As a result of that, he had some time out and got offered the Liam Smith fight and we took it. Aaron impressed in a big way on the biggest stage of all.
“Aaron’s the type of fighter that no one’s gonna take unless they have to.”
That is part of the problem with the imperious win over Smith. The queue to face McKenna has become shorter than ever, even though he is ranked in the top 15 by the four major governing bodies, and as high as seventh with the IBF.
“I am a little bit baffled, and the only thing I can put it down to is everyone considers him too dangerous a fighter,” added Hennessy. “I think that’s what’s happened. I think people thought Aaron was crazy for calling out [Hamzah] Sheeraz, but we all knew.
“Aaron was up for that fight; Fergal was; I was; we really fancied that fight strongly, then the Adames fight happened [for Sheeraz], and I think if Aaron is given the chance, he will become undisputed. He’ll beat all of them.”
And the bullish Hennessy says that on a November date, back on another Eubank-Benn card, McKenna should be given another opportunity to show what he can do.
“He’s ready for that slot and he will fight anyone on that card,” said Hennessy. “We’re waiting to hear back from Matchroom and Ring. He’s one of the few fighters that will fight anyone.”
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