LONDON - Aaron McKenna marked the biggest occasion of his career with a punch-perfect display against former world champion Liam Smith.

The 25-year-old ‘Silencer’ arrived in north London with a 19-0 (10) record but without a real star-making performance on his resume.

But that is exactly what he produced at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, which was nearly completely full by the time he dropped Smith in the final round to consolidate this excellent win.

The veteran from Liverpool, the former WBO super-welterweight champion, applauded as the lopsided scorecards of 119-108, 117-109 and 118-108 were read out.

‘Beefy’ Smith, one of modern British boxing’s great servants, refused to wilt despite navigating this with a cut above his eye for the majority of the fight. But the 36-year-old, now 33-5-1 (20), came up against a man who looks well capable of establishing himself as a genuine force in the middleweight division.

The pattern of the fight was set early on, with McKenna working on the outside behind a long, sharp jab which he often threw in doubles and trebles. He even switched southpaw at times during a confident opener.

Smith, with his hands high and elbows tight, continued to stomp forward in a bid to close the distance and make life hard for McKenna, but more often than not he was rebuffed with long straight shots.

Smith had described McKenna as a ‘strong, young kid’ but predicted that he would take over late on and take him out down the stretch. But McKenna was only growing into the fight and looked more assured with every passing round. And he was starting to utilise the back hand with more proficiency, often landing with uppercuts through the middle whenever Smith got close.

Midway through the fifth round, Smith suffered a nasty cut on the inside of his right eye brow from an accidental clash of heads and immediately the blood started pouring. The cut encouraged Smith to pick up the pace and apply more pressure but McKenna was equal to it, pivoting around the man from Liverpool and landing with more straight, hard shots as the round ended.

Russ Anber in the Smith corner did a fine job on the cut and the flow of blood was stopped into for round six. McKenna officially warned by John Latham for use of the forearm in the sixth but it did little to slow his ascent through the gears.

Smith, though, was refusing to slow but was too often left chasing shadows by the brilliant LA based Irishman. The eighth was a particularly good round for him as he routinely found a home for straight back hands from both stances.

Smith, fighting for the first time since he was stopped by Chris Eubank Jr on a tough night at the Manchester Arena in September 2023, was doing well not to get frustrated by McKenna’s dominance and refused to go into his shell. He started the 10th on the front foot, determined to force McKenna back into the ropes but the Monaghan man was happy to fight fire with fire, meeting Smith head on and trading in centre ring throughout an action packed round.

The late onslaught from Smith, however, failed to make a dent in McKenna who stuck to his plan and did not put a foot wrong. All that was left was for McKenna to ice the cake in the final round with a knockdown that only further skewed the scorecards.

It was a textbook left hook to the body that did the damage and the experienced pro Smith took his time before rising from one knee. Again, Smith got back on the front foot and ensured McKenna worked until the final bell.