Aaron McKenna Demands Title Fight with Alimkhanuly

Irish boxer Aaron McKenna has declared his desire to face WBO and IBF Middleweight world champion Janibek Alimkhanuly.

The 26-year-old prospect is convinced that he and the Kazakh champion are “the most avoided fighters” in the division. McKenna also expressed his wish to see boxing return to the late 20th-century format, when fighters regularly took on true “50-50” matchups.

“Honestly, nobody is interested in fighting me — a rising star in the division. I want to face anyone who presents a challenge, and Janibek is one of them. He’s a world champion, but in the same situation: trying to negotiate with other champions, and they don’t want it.

So I think we’re probably the two most avoided fighters in the division. I’m the rising star, he’s the world champion — the most avoided champion in the Middleweight division. That’s why our fight makes sense, because it’s tough for both of us to get opponents. Nobody is knocking on our doors.

I believe I’m the best Middleweight in the world, and I just have to keep proving it. In my last fight I looked brilliant, and I plan to do the same next time. I only want the toughest opponents. I’m confident I can beat him, and I want to become the undisputed champion in the division before moving up to Super Middleweight.

I saw that Alimkhanuly has been actively calling out Adames and Lara on Twitter, but nothing is happening. He keeps saying nobody wants to fight him, while I said I would. I think I’m the only one who agreed.

I want to bring boxing back to the style of the ’80s and ’90s, when fighters weren’t afraid to face each other. That’s what boxing is. I studied many of the fighters from the 1980s — Marvin Hagler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns, Roberto Duran. When I study boxing, I watch them. That was activity. They fought multiple times a year. Now world champions are lucky to fight once a year, and twice is considered very active by today’s standards. But that’s exactly what I want to bring back,” said McKenna.

In April, Aaron McKenna (20-0, 10 KOs) convincingly defeated former world champion Liam Smith by unanimous decision.

That same month, Janibek Alimkhanuly (17-0, 12 KOs) defended his belts against Andualem Ngamissengue, stopping him in the fifth round.

Alimkhanuly has been calling for unification bouts with fellow champions — WBA titleholder Erislandy Lara and WBC champion Carlos Adames — but this summer Turki Alalsheikh revealed that negotiations for an Alimkhanuly–Adames fight had collapsed.

Photo: Boxing Daily