As it turns out, we are not the first to ask Aaron McKenna What would he spend his money on if he became Eddie Hearn’s million-dollar middleweight contender?
Hearn refined and perfected the “Prizefighter” format that helped revitalise Matchroom Boxing over a decade ago.
The original “Prizefighter” was a thrilling three-round tournament that pitted up-and-coming fighters against each other and back to the veterans over several action-packed hours.
The fresh version of the event will begin in Japan on Monday and will feature eight undefeated middleweights — with a combined record of 112-11-5 — who will fight over 10 and then 12 rounds over the coming months, with the winner taking home a $1 million prize.
The action begins in Osaka on Monday when McKenna (18-0, 9 KOs) takes on Jeovanny Estella (14-0, 5 KOs), while the other quarter-finals will feature Ainiwaer Yilixiati (19-1, 14 KOs) and Kieron Conway (20-3-1, 5 KOs), Kazuto Takesako (16-2-1, 5 KOs) and Mark Dickinson (6-0, 2 KOs), and Riku Kunimoto (11-1, 5 KOs) and Eiki Kani (8-4-3, 4 KOs).
Bookmakers predict McKenna will be the last man standing – and he will be richer for it.
“People always want to talk about the million dollars,” he said. “That’s what gets their attention.
“Money is life-changing, but I try not to think about it. I want to focus on the fight that’s ahead of me. I don’t want to get carried away. I want to win, and I want to win massive, to send a message that I’m the best middleweight in the world.
“I’m going to show people why I think I’m the best middleweight in the world. I want everyone to know I’m here to take over.”
The plan was for the McKenna brothers to become karate champions. Fergal McKenna fought for Ireland in the martial arts and dreamed that his sons Gary, Stephen and Aaron would follow in his footsteps.
“It was tedious,” said Aaron, the youngest of three siblings. “There wasn’t enough action for me. We went to a boxing gym when I was six, and I fell in love with it.”
Fergal gave his sons the best boxing education. As a boy, Fergal trained with Barry McGuigan at the Senior School Amateur Boxing Club and absorbed “some of the knowledge about the intensity and preparation that goes into it.”
The tradition was passed on to his sons, and Aaron estimates he had around 40 to 50 exhibition fights before he began boxing professionally at the age of 11.
He then won the gold medal at the 2011 European Schoolboys’ Championships and the silver medal at the 2014 European Junior Championships in Russia, and in the semi-finals of the 2011 Ringside World Championship in Kansas he faced Devin Haney, losing by unanimous decision.
“I’ve been all over the world,” McKenna said. “I’ve been going to the States since I was 16 and I’ve fought in gyms in Las Vegas, California and Mexico.
“I spent a year at Robert Garcia’s gym and I sparred with Vergil Ortiz almost every week. It was 10-round sparring.
“He showed me little Mexican moves that you don’t see from the British and Irish fighters. He taught me how to hold them back, walk around the ring and not waste energy.
“That’s what it takes to be a world champion. You have to do those things. You have to travel the world and learn as much as you can and see all the different styles.
“Imagine having so much experience and only being 24 years senior?”
McKenna is 24 years senior, 18-0 and is three wins away from winning a million dollars.
Like any other boxer, McKenna has had his share of frustrations in his career. He spent 12 months out of action (from December 2019 to December 2020) as US promoters Golden Boy struggled to secure fights for him, and there was another nine-month break between June 2022 and March 2023 after Mick Hennessy lost his contract with Channel Five.
The latest frustration came in January when former British title challenger Linus Udofia pulled out of a scheduled fight just days earlier. Mickey Ellison stepped in and was broken in six rounds in Liverpool, McKenna’s ninth knockout.
McKenna has added motivation to force an early night in Japan, where the winners will split a $100,000 prize pool, by suspending the tournament.
“The knockout bonus will make the fights very electrifying,” McKenna said. “Everybody will want that bonus. Every time I go in there, I go in with the intention of knocking out my opponent.”
He sees “Prizefighter” as “a chance to get my name out there in the world,” adding, “This is huge. This is the stuff dreams are made of. I’ve been trying to get these fights for a few years now.”
“Whenever I have a massive fight lined up, they pull it the week of the fight. Now I’m 18-0 and 24, and this came at the right time in my career. It was tough to match up with a massive name. Now I have three fights lined up. It’s the right time to show where I’m at.
“This is what all the years of challenging work and sacrifice have been for. I’ve trained my whole life for this moment.”
McKenna begins training for ‘Prizefighter’ in his garden!
“We have a gym built there,” he said, “and it has everything we need. It has strength equipment and boxing equipment. We train there every day and then when we have a date we go to the United States and the United Kingdom for sparring.”
Among his sparring partners over the last few months has been Terence Crawford.
“We were in Las Vegas for a month and we had him sparring at the UFC APEX gym,” McKenna said. “I did 10 four-minute rounds with 30 seconds off with Steve Nelson, Lester Martinez and Terence Crawford.
“I did five rounds with him” [Crawford] and it was like a game of chess. I had to be alert every second I was there because he was constantly trying to set traps and set me up for something.”
McKenna made a good impression.
“Bo Mac (coach Brian McIntyre) and Terence were really impressed with us,” he said. “They said they wanted us to come back for more scrimmages.
“It’s nice to hear that from someone I consider to be number one in the world for value for money.”
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