Etinosa Oliha has vowed to inflict a punishing defeat on Aaron McKenna when the pair meet for the vacant IBF middleweight title in Dublin on Saturday August 8. The Italian boxer gave a dismissive assessment of his opponent ahead of the bout at the 3Arena, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.
McKenna, 27, is aiming to become Ireland's newest world champion in front of his hometown crowd. He enters the fight following the performance and victory of his career, in which he punished Liam Smith and floored him in the 12th round.
Oliha predicted a painful night for McKenna and said the Irishman cannot offer anything new in the ring. "I don't think he can match that work-rate, but, you know, like I said, I'm an all-rounder boxer, so anything he brings, you know, it's not going to be anything new to me," Oliha told Sky Sports. Asked if he can win by knockout, Oliha added: "I will win this fight, and I will hurt him."
Hostile Crowd at 3Arena
McKenna will be backed by vocal support inside the 3Arena, but Oliha insisted he is solely focused on preventing his opponent's world title plans. "Well, that would be crazy [if I could silence the stadium], you know, in his hometown, but, you know, it's boxing, so you have to be prepared for it," Oliha said.
"It's not gonna bother me [if it is a loud atmosphere] because, you know, in the ring it's gonna be just me and him," Oliha added. Ahead of the bout, McKenna also spoke about his unlikely friendship with Kendrick Lamar after meeting the artist at a training session with his brother.
Title Unification Ambitions
The Italian fighter holds an unbeaten record, just like McKenna, and is confident he can collect other world titles in the middleweight division after acquiring the IBF belt. "Yes, of course, it's always been an ambition [to be a world champion]," Oliha said.
"I want to unify all the titles, that would be one of my greatest dreams, so, yeah, it's a big ambition for me," Oliha added. "This would mean a lot for Italian boxing. Finally Italy's gonna be back on the radar of world champions once more."
