Aaron McKenna beat Etinosa Oliha in Dublin on Saturday to become the new IBF middleweight world champion, winning in front of his home crowd at the 3Arena. The Irishman says he now wants to take on the mantle of Canelo Alvarez and Gennadiy Golovkin by dominating the division.
McKenna is targeting the other champions at 160 pounds: Denzel Bentley holds the WBO title, Carlos Adames the WBC and Erislandy Lara the WBA. He is calling for all the top middleweights to fight one another.
"It doesn't matter [who's next], whoever wants it. I'm easy to find now, I have a belt. There's no hiding any more. I want to collect every single belt in boxing. I'm the best middleweight and super-middleweight in the world. I don't mind jumping up," he told Sky Sports.
McKenna targets rival champions
Speaking at his post-fight press conference, McKenna said the middleweight division was there to be taken over, adding that it had been dying for years since Golovkin and Canelo left it. He said he had predicted a year earlier that he would be the man to take it over.
"No one really believed me. Until you put in performances like that and then they start listening. In life you've got to prove yourself sometimes. Tonight I've done that. I just hope one of the other world champions will take on the fight so we can clean up this mess of a division," he said.
McKenna promised he would not shy away from any opponent. "Anyone. I've said it before and I'll say it again I will literally fight anyone out there. I just want to unify, whatever it takes, prove I'm the best in the world. That's the sport of boxing. You look back in the day, the 80s and 90s, they all fought each other," he said.
He also credited the promotion behind the fight. "And this is exactly why Zuffa Boxing's going to be the future. It's already taking over. Everybody's fighting each other, there's no more hiding," McKenna said.
An emotional homecoming
McKenna entered the ring to Sinead O'Connor's "The Foggy Dew" followed by Faithless' "Insomnia," and his brother Stevie McKenna watched from ringside as he won the title.
Reflecting on the victory, McKenna said he had been thinking about the moment since he was six years old, and that it showed the value of not giving up and staying true to yourself.
"Twenty-one years in the making," he concluded. "I don't know how long this is going to take for this to seep in that this has finally happened that I've become world champion. I've been dreaming of this. For it to happen now, honestly it's literally unbelievable. I can't describe it."
