Aaron McKenna looks to secure a maiden world title when he faces Etinosa Oliha for the vacant IBF middleweight crown in Dublin on Saturday.
Dana White’s Zuffa Boxing promote McKenna vs Oliha with Sky Sports broadcasting the bout in the UK and Ireland and Paramount+ airing it in the USA.
McKenna (20-0, 10 KOs) has home advantage and set up a world title shot with a dominant unanimous decision victory over Liam Smith last April.
The 27-year-old floored Smith in the final round and took his unbeaten record to 20 straight professional wins.
Oliha (22-0, 10 KOs) previously held the IBO middleweight world title and is also undefeated, having won 22 fights on the spin.
The 28-year-old Italian will end almost an 11 month lay-off having stopped Ivan Njegac in three rounds last September.
Prediction: McKenna should prove too skilled for Oliha and can take a points victory.
Walsh faces Denny
Fellow Irish middleweight hope, Callum Walsh looks to edge closer to a world title shot himself when he meets the experienced Tyler Denny.
Walsh (16-0, 11 KOs) rose to prominence with a convincing victory over Fernando Vargas Jr on the undercard of Terence Crawford’s decisive win over Canelo Alvarez last September.
The unbeaten 25-year-old followed this up with a unanimous decision success over Carlos Ocampo in January.
Denny (21-4-3, 1 KO) previously held the European middleweight title, but looks to bounce back from defeat to George Liddard in March.
Prediction: Denny should provide a stiff test, but Walsh should prevail on points.
Remaining Undercard
Light heavyweight, Joseph Ward (12-1, 8 KOs) should see off Artjom Kasparian (14-0, 12 KOs) over the distance and Connor Coyle (22-0, 10 KOs) can do the same against Mark Bueke (13-3, 7 KOs) in their middleweight clash.
Stephen McKenna (16-1, 15 KOs), the older brother of Aaron, can secure a stoppage over Owen O’Neill (14-2, 1 KO) at 160 pounds and Sam Hickey (5-0, 2 KOs) should see off Brad Axe (5-1) on points at the same weight.
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In the final middleweight bout, Louis Greene (18-4, 12 KOs) can become the first man to halt Daniel Buciuc (16-2, 6 KOs).
Patrick O’Connor (3-0, 3 KOs) can maintain his perfect start to the paid ranks with a stoppage of Juan Manuel Moriel (6-1, 5 KOs).
