Aaron McKenna and Denzel Bentley have agreed to a world middleweight title unification fight before the end of 2026, Sky Sports understands.
McKenna claimed the IBF belt with a points win over Etinosa Oliha last month in Dublin, extending his professional record to 100 per cent with wins in all of his fights so far.
Bentley was elevated to WBO champion in July after Janibek Alimkhanuly relinquished the title. The Londoner had already positioned himself for a world title shot by beating Endry Saavedra in April to become WBO interim champion.
McKenna vows to fight anyone
Speaking after his win over Oliha, McKenna made clear he wants to face every leading name in the division rather than wait for the easiest fights.
"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," McKenna said.
"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 ready to "clean up" the division
Before his fight with Oliha, McKenna told Sky Sports of his ambition to go undisputed at middleweight and eventually move up in weight before finishing his career as a heavyweight.
"I'm 6ft 3in now and I have a very long reach as well. My body's the type of body that could fill out easily enough as well weight-wise," McKenna told Sky Sports. "Once I'm done at 160lb, take over 168 and then 175. But by the time I finish out, I plan to have at least one fight at heavyweight."
He also pointed to the division's recent history as motivation to bring it back into the spotlight.
"The last two big fighters in it [middleweight division] were Canelo and GGG [Gennady Golovkin], so I kind of want to bring big-time boxing in the middleweight division and bring it back to life. [Bentley] would be another good fight."
What a unification fight would mean
A unification bout brings together two of boxing's four major world title belts, in this case the IBF and WBO middleweight straps, so that the winner holds both. McKenna's undefeated record and Bentley's rapid rise from interim to full WBO champion set up a fight between two boxers with everything still to prove at world level.
No date, venue or further details of the McKenna-Bentley fight have been confirmed.
