BRIGHTON, ENGLAND – Fourteen months after Harlem Eubank’s previous appearance in front of his hometown Brighton fans, when he unpicked sturdy gatekeeper Timo Schwarzkopf in 11 rounds, the Englishman orchestrated a beatdown even more bedazzling to pummel the resistance from Tyrone McKenna in 10.

That performance against Schwarzkopf, in this same Brighton Centre in November 2023, was thought to have taken Eubank to the next level but what followed was actually very little. Teased with a showdown against domestic rival Adam Azim that came to nothing, Eubank was left with no choice but to busy himself at the end of last year in an uninspiring eight-rounder with the unknown Nurali Erdogan. 

“I said to everyone I mean business this year,” Eubank, 21-0 (9 KOs), said after returning to form in style. “This was a warm-up fight, I want Conor Benn next.”

McKenna had been busier but his own progress had suffered too. A points loss to Lewis Crocker represented his third defeat in five bouts, and triggered a brief ‘retirement’, before another loss to Mohamed Mimoune seemed to suggest that his decision to walk away had been the right one. Yet he felt like he had more to give – evidenced, perhaps, by a two-round drubbing of Dylan Moran in December. Last month, he spoke of never wanting to lose again such was the shame he felt when telling his children of his defeats.

Though his kids should be proud of their dad because McKenna did not stop trying, even when his mission was at its most futile, the truth is he never really stood a chance. Eubank, so vicious and always at ease, appeared to have a smile on his face throughout, only choosing to change his expression at the very end when he bit down and pounded the head of McKenna with all his might.

“I loved it in there,” Eubank said. “I’ve been working away this year and I’m coming for the world champions. That’s the level I believe I can compete at.” 

The showcase took a little while to get going, however.

If a punch landed in the opening round it wasn’t spotted by the crowd who chose to voice their displeasure with boos at the bell. Eubank, looking the part in fitted gold trunks emblazoned with his famous surname, spent much of that first round threatening to get close enough to land a blow while McKenna waited politely for him to do so.

Eubank did score in the second, a left hook on the inside probably enough to win another tentative session before the hometown favorite found something resembling a groove in the third. Showcasing substantially faster limbs than McKenna, he darted inside, cuffing the Northern Irishman and twice bundling him to the mat though neither fall resulted in a count being rendered.

McKenna was forced to shake his head after taking a hefty right in the fourth and Eubank, growing in confidence on dancing feet, steadily upped the pressure as short chopping blows rocked the 35-year-old. 

A searing uppercut decked McKenna in Round 5 and when he fell again in the seventh, heavier this time, from a right hand that landed with a thud which could be heard over the noise in the arena, the end seemed nigh.

McKenna gamely tried to orchestrate his own openings but, by the ninth, was looking every inch the game but fading warrior the matchmakers had beforehand deemed him to be. Eubank, meanwhile, was also living up to pre-fight expectation, regularly punctuating his dizzying approach play with accurate, hacking blows.

His dominance was briefly thwarted in the 10th when a shot that appeared to land on the beltline winded McKenna and forced him to the canvas. The referee ruled it low, then warned Eubank, who nodded in acceptance before setting about his wounded prey with spite that was impossible to resist. At 2-09 of the round, with McKenna taking a frightful pounding, the contest was stopped.

Following this latest victory, which again proved that the 31-year-old is ready for take-off, one hopes that Eubank isn’t left to stagnate on the runway again.