Money can’t buy advice from a pound-for-pound great like Terence Crawford – but Aaron McKenna didn’t need to.
The undefeated 25-year-old from Ireland earned it the hard way, impressing ‘Bud’ while preparing for the biggest fight of his career yet.
‘The Silencer’ faces former world champion Liam Smith, who is 11 years his elder, in one of five fights at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday night.
McKenna is bidding to claim the WBA international middleweight belt against Liverpool’s Smith, who has nine rounds with Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez and a stoppage over Chris Eubank Jr under his belt.
Eubank Jr faces Conor Benn in the headline act on a night which promises to be an all-time British boxing spectacle.
Speaking to talkSPORTjust days out from his fight, McKenna revealed he has sparred with Crawford, and explained how it felt hearing positive words from the current WBA world champion at super-welterweight.
“I sparred with Crawford last summer and Crawford was very impressed with me,” McKenna said.
“After the spar he came up to and said how impressed he was with me.
“In between the rounds when I was sparring, Crawford came in between and gave me advice, saying ‘Do this, do that.’
“It was great to hear them sort of words from a guy like Terence Crawford.”
The Irishman then reflected on what fighting in front of over 60,000 people will do for his future career in the squared circle.
“This will be the best opponent I’ve had yet,” he added. “Every time I’ve had a step up I’ve come through it quite easily.
McKenna said Crawford was impressed after they sparred togetherGetty“This is a good test for me at this stage of my career. It’s a fight I’ve needed for a couple of years, one that I’ve wanted.
“It’ll bring the best out of me. I know it will. 65,000 people, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. It’s going to be rocking. I think it’s going to be a great atmosphere.
“There’s a lot of Irish fans travelling over as well. A lot of people from America as well.
“There’ll be a lot of Irish there to support me. It’s going to be some fight. I think that’s going to steal the show.”
At 16, McKenna moved to Los Angeles, and he became his country’s youngest ever professional fighter two years later.
He has clocked ten KO’s in his 19 victories as a professional, but his journey to the top has been far from straight forward.
McKenna believes Eubank Jr ‘will take over’ his fight with Benn if it gets past the fifth roundPA Wire The Irishman has carved out his path to boxing’s summit the hard wayGetty‘The Silencer’ hasn’t fought in the ring since July 2024, and last January, his previous scheduled opponent, Linus Udofia, withdrew from their fight in Liverpool.
Promoters found a late replacement in Mickey Ellison and McKenna stopped the Blackburn man after six rounds in a convincing victory.
He then joined a Japanese Prizefighter following his victory and defeated American Joevanny Estela in July to advance to the semi-finals.
However, McKenna was hit with a slap across the face when the tournament, where the winner pocketed a huge $1million, was cancelled.
Speaking to the Irish Mirror, the 25-year-old added that he has been constantly forced to overcome adversity, but never lets it get in his way.
“This has been happening to me right since the very first day,” he said.
“I was supposed to make my pro debut at Madison Square Garden, the big arena.
“I was supposed to be the youngest ever to ever fight there and then just the night before the fight it got cancelled so that was a tough pill to swallow.
“I’m well used to it now and then it just happened more and more regularly, but it’s the sport of boxing and these things happen and you just have to get used to it and not let it affect you.”
McKenna concluded in his conversation with talkSPORT that he believes Benn can overcome Eubank Jr in the headline act on Saturday night.
But, the Irishman added that Eubank Jr ‘will take over’ the fight if it gets past the first five rounds.
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