RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Aaron McKenna is the IBF middleweight champion of the world. McKenna outclassed Etinosa Oliha over 12 rounds in the Zuffa Boxing 10 main event in Dublin, earning a wide decision and capturing the vacant championship in front of his hometown Irish fans.
Oliha's speed advantage was clear in the early rounds, as he was able to pop off a good jab despite McKenna's reach advantage, and used that jab to set up some heavy right hands. McKenna was able to fire back capably, however, and the opening rounds were close as a result.
McKenna appeared to find his flow around the third round, getting his own long jab going and connecting with more clean shots as Oliha struggled to find his own desired space and timing. Oliha wanted an inside fight, but McKenna was able to clinch and crowd when the fighters did come close.
McKenna's surprising ability to meet Oliha's physicality seemed to throw Oliha off of his game plan. McKenna was able to push Oliha around the ring and even get his back to the ropes, with those moments coming more frequently as the fight wore on.
Things never really changed from that point, with McKenna dominating at pretty much every distance and Oliha unable to do much offensively no matter how willing he was to try.
After 12 rounds of action, the official scorecards read 118-110, 117-111 and 116-112, all for McKenna.
The win marked the first time McKenna has held a world championship, though he may have been slightly outshined by his brother, Stevie, who scored a big knockout on the prelims.
STEVIE MCKENNA SENT HIM FLYING WHAT A KNOCKOUT!!! 📺 #ZuffaBoxing10 on @paramountplus pic.twitter.com/jEJSHEsSV9
Most observers were expecting a fairly easy fight for Callum Walsh in the co-feature as he took on Tyler Denny, a fighter who entered the ring with a 21-4-3 record and just one career win by knockout. Despite the favorable circumstances for the rising Irish star, he hit a bit of a speed bump in the opening round.
After largely controlling the action in the opening frame, Walsh bent at the waist and stopped fighting, seemingly waiting for the referee to intervene after Denny had pushed him down with his forearm. Instead, Denny let a barrage of punches fly, tagging Walsh until Walsh reached down and touched the canvas, making for an official knockdown.
Walsh was not badly affected by the situation and came right back to score a big knockdown off a counter shot in Round 2.
Walsh was able to mostly remain in control from that point, though he never came close to scoring the stoppage. In fact, the fight was a pretty ugly one, falling into a pattern of constant holding in between jabs.
The holding led to point deductions for both men in Round 8, a round that also saw Walsh cut around the left eye after an accidental clash of heads.
At the end of a fight that never lived up to the excitement of the first two rounds, Walsh was awarded the win on the official judges' scorecards by scores of 98-91, 98-91 and 96-90.
It's unclear where Walsh, Zuffa Boxing's first "big signing" and a long-time project of Dana White, will go after the victory. It's natural to think he would be matched with McKenna in an all-Irish title showdown of Zuffa fighters, but it's also natural to think his performance against a lower-caliber opponent like Denny may show that he's not quite at the championship level at this point in his career.
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