Almost every young boxer daydreams of becoming a world champion from the moment they first step foot in the gym.

Aaron McKenna (20-0, 10 KOs) had no time for dreams. The thought of having a title belt strapped around his waist quickly became an obsession.

The Irishman dedicated his childhood to the sport, and whilst most of his peers were wondering what to do with their lives after completing their GCSE exams, he found himself on the West Coast of America mixing with hardened world champions.

Nine years later, the undefeated middleweight contender is edging ever closer to achieving his goal.

“I sparred Jessie Magdaleno [the former WBO junior featherweight champion] when I was 16,” McKenna told The Ring.

“I couldn't even imagine most 16-year-olds getting sparring like that. I did very good in the spars as well. That's when I realised that there's definitely something there.

“I've had 20 fights now and I'm still only 25. I wanted to turn pro as young as I could and get that experience up. I knew how important it was as well to go over to America.

“I think that's the one key feature that's really benefited my career. I think it's something most fighters this side of the pond need to do.

“I've been boxing since I was six years old and dedicated my life to the game. I know how hard you have to work to become world champion and I intend on doing it.”

In April, McKenna was handed a slot on The Ring's first fight card and announced himself on the world stage by comprehensively outpointing well respected former WBO junior welterweight champion Liam Smith in front of a huge crowd at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

McKenna enjoyed his first real taste of the big time and is now eyeing a slot on the biggest show of the year.

Last week, His Excellency Turki Alalshikh took to social media and announced that he wanted some of the sport’s “young, hungry fighters” to be given the opportunity to perform on the undercard of the Sept. 13 superfight between The Ring and undisputed super middleweight champion Canelo Alvarez and multi-weight world champion Terence Crawford.

McKenna quickly inserted himself into the conversation. He usually prefers to let his actions speak for him but he also isn’t the type of person to rest on his laurels and wait to be handed his shot.

Having come this far, The Ring’s No. 10 middleweight is desperate to keep moving forward the only way he knows how.

“Since the fight with Smith I’ve been in Ireland mainly. I went to New York for a week and spent some time over there, but I’ve just been back in the gym since, picking up where I left off and staying in good shape,” he said.

“I'm a full believer in that a professional athlete should be ready the whole year round. I just want to become world champion and I do believe I will become world champion. It's just about getting the opportunity and right now I'm in a very good position. I’ve put a lot of hard work in over the years. I’ve sacrificed a lot and really just dedicated my whole life to this sport and I intend to become world champion.

“I got to show myself on a big stage last time so why not again? I think it would be great to have another world title fight on the [Canelo-Crawford] card, especially for the middleweight division. I think it would definitely bring excitement to the middleweight division and it's what it needs to bring it back to the old days of middleweight. I want to be the one who's going to clean up the division, unify it and be undisputed.

“I'm only 25 and I want to take over it and I think it is the perfect card to do it on.”

The middleweight division may not be the most glamorous or star studded division but that doesn’t mean that there is an easy route to the top.

Unified IBF and WBO champion Janibek Alimkhanuly (17-0, 12 KOs) is widely regarded as the best 160lb fighter on the planet and the southpaw presents a formidable challenge.

WBA titleholder Erislandy Lara (31-3-3, 19 KOs) may be 42 years old but remains a quality operator who has accumulated a wealth of top class experience whilst Dominican WBC champion Carlos Adames (24-1-1, 18 KOs) is one of the most underrated champions operating today.

Before the opportunity to fight Smith landed in his lap, McKenna was very close to agreeing a deal to travel to Kazakhstan to take on the undefeated Janibek but after examining his options he decided that an impressive victory over a respected name like Smith would not only do wonders for his profile, but also give him more leverage in negotiations.

The decision paid off and McKenna now insists that he is more than ready for any of the titleholders.

“It doesn't matter who it is as long as I get the opportunity for the world title. Any time, any place, anywhere. I’ll take any of them on,” he said.

“They're all good fighters. They’re all world champions. If you're a world champion you're a good fighter.

“I think it's just the style that I bring. It’s a very unique style that's rare to see. I can box southpaw. I’m aggressive. I like to go forward.

“Whatever style is in front of me, whether it's southpaw or orthodox, I always adapt to whatever suits best.

“My manager, Mick Hennessy, is working hard in the background at the minute so I leave all that to him and my team. I do all the fighting and they do all the hard work in the background.”

McKenna certainly held up his end of the deal against Smith.

Most expected a gruelling, toe-to-toe battle but McKenna boxed, fought, moved and held his feet. He kept the uncompromising Liverpudlian guessing from the opening bell and punctuated a punch perfect performance by dropping Smith to the body in the final round.

McKenna is ranked at No. 9 by the WBC and IBF whilst the WBA have him positioned at No. 10 but it could be strongly argued that very few of the fighters ranked above him have recorded as significant a victory as his win over Smith.

“I don't think anyone has and the thing about it is even before the fight I said I didn't only want to win, I wanted to win it in style because I knew how important it was,” he said.

“There was a lot of people doubting me — a lot of boxing experts, too — so a lot of people saw a side of me that they've never seen before.

“It was a very good performance and it looked well as well when I watched it back. People have only probably seen a certain style or a certain way that I can box and in that fight alone I showed multiple styles. I showed I could box and box very good. I switched southpaw and boxed very good as a southpaw.

“I don't even think many people expected that. I said the week of the fight that I was going to do it and I think people just thought I was saying that to try and probably get in his head or something but, no, I was fully intended on going southpaw. I knew my southpaw style would suit him down to the ground and then I also showed that I could push back a strong fighter like Smith that and fight him at his own style. I showed multiple ways of fighting and I showed that I can adapt.”