Though the middleweight division has been somewhat of an afterthought in recent years, Aaron McKenna wants to be the man to reattach its glamour tag, and it all starts on April 26 against Liam Smith.

The pair will clash on the undercard of Chris Eubank Jr vs. Conor Benn at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday night. The bill will be put on by Ring Magazine in association with SNK Games and streamed live on DAZN PPV.

And Irishman McKenna believes it'll be the start of something special for his career.

"What an historic event it's going to be," he tells The Ring. "I don't really get nervous, but I understand how big of a deal it is.

"Beating Liam Smith definitely puts a lot of eyes on me, especially on this platform that it's on. It's like the whole of the UK will probably be watching this fight. What a chance for me to do it against the guy that knocked out Chris Eubank Jr.

"The middleweight division right now is crying for someone to come through. It's dying at the minute. It's not what it once was in the days of Marvin Hagler or Triple G, Canelo. So it needs something new and I want to be that guy to take over the middleweight division."

McKenna left Monaghan, a sleepy town slap-bang in the middle of Belfast and Dublin which has a population of less than 8,000, at the age of 16 in search of bigger and better boxing opportunities.

With his dad Fergal and brother Stephen in tow, the trio set off for the fame capital of the world Los Angeles. The change was a huge one, but it was to be for the better.

Now 25, McKenna is adamant the nine years he's spent sparring elite talent, training under the guidance of legendary cornermen such as Robert Garcia and Freddie Roach, has put him in good stead for the prime years of his career.

"Over here in America, you get the best sparring in the world," McKenna adds. "It's like...who's going to walk through the door next? Since the age of 16, I've been sparring world champions.

"Like this camp alone, I've sparred a lot of world-class fighters, a lot of fighters from Bo-Mac's gym.

"Last year I sparred with Terence Crawford in Vegas. That was a very good spar before his fight with [Israil] Madrimov. I learned a lot from him and he was impressed with me as well. He was giving me tips and advice after. It's just stuff like that that really does give you that extra bit of experience and help and confidence going forward.

"I trained with Robert Garcia for a year and Freddie Roach as well for a year, these have all been amazing experiences I wouldn't have had otherwise."

It's also fair to say the culture shock for McKenna, who now lives in Las Vegas, was real.

"It was a big switch," he says with a laugh. "I used to live out in the middle of nowhere.

"Santa Monica, Hollywood, Beverly Hills. You know, it was something that I'd never really seen before. I'd just seen it in the movies.

"So you don't really know what to expect, but it was crazy looking back.

"The weather was a big difference compared to Ireland, obviously, where there's a lot of wind and rain. The best thing about training is doing it in the sun and the heat, getting up for your runs at 4am and it's still warm definitely helps a lot."

Boxing wasn't always the plan for McKenna, who turned pro at 18, having fought over 160 times as an amateur for Ireland. Karate and Gaelic football were past times he and his brothers found themselves partaking in.

In the end, though, boxing won out.

"I started off karate when I was like five or six, me and Stephen and Gary, my other brother. But there wasn't enough action, we found it boring," he says.

"I did Gaelic football as well. I was six years old when I first started boxing and fell in love with it ever since, I made the decision to stick with it at 11 years old and haven't looked back since."

McKenna vs. Smith has the potential to steal the show on Saturday night. Both men are no-nonsense, and McKenna realises that now he's found himself on one of the grandest stages there is, it's down to him to entertain.

"I'm coming to get the knockout," McKenna says, stoney-faced. "You have to be exciting in this game.

"Like if you're going out there just to try and snipe a points winner or whatever, it's not exciting for the fans. People have paid their hard-earned money to come watch us fight.

"You have to really put on a show for them, try and make it entertaining like the old days. That's what boxing needs right now."

One thing's for certain, if McKenna wins well on Saturday, the 160-pound division will have some much-needed life breathed into it, and his journey from Monaghan to Vegas via Los Angeles won't have been in vain.