Paulie Malignaggi: an Etinosa Oliha win over Aaron McKenna could revive Italian boxing

With a victory against Italy’s Etinosa Oliha on Saturday, August 8, Irish middleweight Aaron McKenna looks poised to induce a wave of nationalist fighting pride for his Irish homeland, but ProBoxTV’s own Paulie Malignaggi says an Oliha victory could trigger the very same for Italian boxing fans.

IBF No. 2-ranked Oliha, 22-0 (10 KOs), of Turin Italy, and IBF No. 3-ranked middleweight McKenna, 20-0 (10 KOs) of Monaghan, Ireland, will meet for the vacant IBF middleweight in the 12-round main event of Saturday’s Zuffa Boxing 10 broadcast, live on Paramount+ and SKY (2:00 pm EDT/7:00 pm BST) from Dublin, Ireland’s 3Arena.

Along with the fan support and momentum of having his first professional fight on Irish soil, the undefeated McKenna is going in this weekend as the betting favorite to win the title left vacant after the IBF stripped former champ Janibek Alimkhanuly. 

But, former world champion Malignaggi, speaking on the Combat & Coffee show, hosted by Malignaggi and Big Jimbo Reynolds on Malignaggi’s Paulie TV YouTube channel, says an Oliha victory could ignite a rediscovered passion in Italy’s fistic community.

“Listen, you're going to favor McKenna, who is a more known prospect and probably the guy that Zuffa is trying to push a little bit, but Oliha coming in at 21-0 has not had it easy in his career,” reminded Malignaggi.

Malignaggi notes that, despite his own undefeated record, Oliha, born in Turin, Italy, to Nigerian immigrant parents, hasn’t yet sparked excitement in his native land. 

“I would like, as an Italian American, to have seen Oliha get more press in Italy,” continued Malignaggi. “The problem with the boxing press in Italy is that it's almost non-existent. Plus, Oliha not being a blood Italian… he was born in Torino, but with an African background, maybe not everybody takes to him right away… I think the main reason he hasn't caught attention yet is that sometimes it's not easy for people to take for the fighter who doesn't look like them right away.