Promoter Mick Hennessy revealed that undefeated prospect Stephen ‘Hitman’ McKenna, will make his UK debut on his 5th September show, live on free-to-air Channel 5.

McKenna will feature on the undercard of Alex Dilmaghani’s European super featherweight title challenge against champion Samir Ziani.  His opponent will be Gateshead’s Kris Pilkington in a six round contest.

The hard-hitting 24-year-old super-lightweight prospect is certainly living up to his Hitman moniker.  Undefeated in four fights since turning professional last year, McKenna has won them all by KO inside two rounds, three coming in the first.

From Monaghan in Ireland, McKenna comes from a very strong boxing family of brothers alongside Gary and Aaron who all represented Ireland at International level winning medals.  Now based in Woodhills, California, he is trained by the legendary Freddie Roach at the Wild Card Gym.

McKenna was a standout amateur produced by the Irish Boxing Association with a career record of 155 fights and only 24 losses.  Astonishingly, he won the Irish U/18 youth title, Multi Nation Bronze in Russia,  Commonwealth Youth Gold in Samoa, European youth silver in Poland and was crowned Irish Elite Senior Champion all in the same year. 

Prior to moving to Los Angeles in 2018, McKenna had been training with the Irish Elite team full time at the High Performance center in Dublin for three years.

Despite only having four fights and less than five rounds of action, McKenna has gained valuable experience sparring with pound-for-pound best Vasily Lomachenko, plus top fighters Sergey Lipinets, Jose Zepeda, Hikori Okada, Antonio Orozco, Javier Molina, Lee Selby and Ryan Garcia.

McKenna is excited to fight in the UK for the first time as a professional.  He said, “The Hitman is ready! I’m looking forward to making my first appearance in the UK with Hennessy Sports. I’m in really good shape and ready to put on an exciting show.  I’m delighted to be fighting on free TV in the UK on Channel 5. It’s a fantastic opportunity for my friends, family and fans to finally see me in action. This is just the platform I need to build my stock. I can’t wait.”