Zuffa Boxing have announced the signing of Irish 15-1 middleweight contender Stevie McKenna who will make his return to the ring in June.
When Zuffa Boxing announced a landmark broadcast deal with Sky Sports in the UK, every boxing fan was left wondering who they would sign?
It started with the shock signing of Conor Benn (25-1, 14ko’s), snatching him from Eddie Hearn and Matchroom was a major power play.
With Benn chasing the Ryan Garcia (25-2, 20ko’s) fight, it seems his interests are states side.
Cruiserweight is a division Dana White and co have certainly been targeting.
This is proven none more than the signing of former cruiserweight world champion Chris Billiam Smith (21-2, 13ko’s).
The Bournemouth born man will headline Zuffa’s inaugural UK event against Ryan Rozicki (21-1-1, 20ko’s).
Jack Massey vs Chev Clarke has been announced as the chief support, further highlighting the cruiserweight focus.
Local hero Lee Cutler will also feature on the card, and a former opponent of Cutler’s has been today announced as a new signing for Dana White.
15-1 Irish middleweight Stevie McKenna has signed with Zuffa Boxing, and will make his long awaited return to the ring in Bournemouth this June.
14 out of the Irishman’s victories have come by way of knockout, highlighting his attributes.
By the time McKenna enters the ring in Bournemouth, it will be 18 months of inactivity.
His most recent outing ended in a majority decision defeat to Lee Cutler, in a fight where McKenna was put on the canvas twice.
Cutler, McKenna and Billiam Smith were all previously signed with Ben Shalom and BOXXER.
When BOXXER moved from Sky Sports to the BBC, a fair few of their fighters became free agents contractually.
Over recent months, we’ve seen Ben Whittaker sign with Matchroom Boxing, Joshua Buatsi sign with Queensberry, and its certainly a strategy being targeted by Zuffa.
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