“This is one tough Irish kid.”
Aaron McKenna stormed to his fifth straight win in professional boxing after securing a unanimous points victory over Rolando Mendivil in Hollywood last night.
The 19-year-old from Monaghan controlled the tempo through-out and landed right hands at will. His only frustration was not being able to secure a knock-out against the doughty Mendivil.
Monaghan teenager Aaron McKenna goes 5-0 after another impressive victory
The bout was streamed live on the Facebook page of Golden Boy Promotions, which is owned by Oscar De La Hoya. The boxing legend believes McKenna has what it takes to become the welterweight world champion in the coming years.
There was certainly a lot of Irish fans clicking in for coverage and one funny moment occurred when neither commentator fancied pronouncing the name of this online poster:
The third round of the fight produced a major talking point as McKenna fought on for over a minute after losing his mouth-guard.
‘The Silencer’ was well on top at this stage, and in the round, when a glancing blow from Mendivil forced his guard to fall onto the ring apron. Most fighters would stop at that point to get their guard popped by in – fighting without one increases one’s chances of being knocked out or badly stung – but McKenna wasn’t interested.
He fought on and continued to land crunching blows on his opponent and, as he was so far on top, the referee was happy to let the fight flow.
At one stage, perhaps desperate for a break in his pounding, Mendivil pleaded with the ref to call a halt to proceedings. Still, on McKenna came.
The flurry eventually slowed with less than 60 seconds to go in the round and McKenna was ordered back to his corner to get his guard replaced.
Following the fight, which all three judges scored 40-36 to McKenna, the commentators marvelled at his mid-bout decision to plough on.
“How about that? He lost his mouth-piece but said he didn’t want anyone to think bad of him, because of it, so he kept fighting.” Co-commentator Mario Lopez said:
“Man, I’ve never seen that before. Most of the fighters would want to take advantage of the time and use it for themselves but McKenna is a tough kid. He looks like he’s 12 years old but the kid can fight!”
De La Hoya, himself, was enthused by the Monaghan native’s latest victory.
“What a great fight, and win,” he said. “What a way to open the night.”
