Aaron McKenna vs. Etinosa Oliha | Sky Sports - 8 August 2026

[Ruthless-RKO]

Fight night i!!

[Ruthless-RKO]

Callum Simpson reaping rewards with Robert McCracken ahead of Troy Williamson rematch

Callum Simpson is loving life under new trainer Robert McCracken ahead of his rematch with Troy Williamson this Saturday at Leeds’ First Direct Arena.

The super middleweight from Barnsley, England, was forced to make a change following the first defeat of his professional career. Simpson was stopped by Williamson back in December, surrendering his British and Commonwealth titles in the process, and has since reassessed his training team.

“I think sometimes when you're winning and everything's going well, sometimes you don't look,” Simpson told Boxing Scene. “There might have been things in previous camps that I thought things could do with changing but when everything's going well, it's like why fix what's not broken? Sometimes you need the loss to happen to be like, ‘You know what, yeah, something needs to change in this aspect.’”

The 18-1 (13 KOs) Simpson has linked up with the experienced McCracken ahead of a rematch with Williamson this Saturday.

“I met Rob for a coffee, I had a chat with him for about two hours,” Simpson explained. “We talked about things that he thinks I could improve on, things that I do well, what his thoughts in terms of my style of fighting. And obviously he's been on a lot of shows I’ve been on, so he's seen me quite a lot. I had a good chat, went and did a session up at EIS with him and I said, ‘Am I allowed to train here?’ He was like, ‘Yeah, of course you can.’”

Simpson has linked up with McCracken’s growing professional stable that includes Galal Yafai, Lauren Price, and Sam Hickey. McCracken also spearheads the Great British boxing squad in Sheffield, England, which has been a refreshing change for Simpson.

“I'm definitely not the best in that gym, honestly, we did tech sparring, obviously it's a different game, but yeah, there's some great fighters, some great lads there,” he said. “There's Dimeji Shittu, Callum Makin … you forget how good they all are. There's some great talent there and yeah, working alongside them has been class as well.”

McCracken also has an exceptional track record with the likes of Anthony Joshua and Carl Froch, leading both to multiple world titles.

“Since being with him, you can see why he's, for me, one of the best trainers in the world,” said Simpson. “With Anthony Joshua, I think that those were probably his best years when he was with Rob. Cal Froch, taking him all the way through, from start to finish and being on the biggest stages. The experience in the corner, experience on fight night and everything else as well.”

[Ruthless-RKO]

Paulie Malignaggi: an Etinosa Oliha win over Aaron McKenna could revive Italian boxing

With a victory against Italy’s Etinosa Oliha on Saturday, August 8, Irish middleweight Aaron McKenna looks poised to induce a wave of nationalist fighting pride for his Irish homeland, but ProBoxTV’s own Paulie Malignaggi says an Oliha victory could trigger the very same for Italian boxing fans.

IBF No. 2-ranked Oliha, 22-0 (10 KOs), of Turin Italy, and IBF No. 3-ranked middleweight McKenna, 20-0 (10 KOs) of Monaghan, Ireland, will meet for the vacant IBF middleweight in the 12-round main event of Saturday’s Zuffa Boxing 10 broadcast, live on Paramount+ and SKY (2:00 pm EDT/7:00 pm BST) from Dublin, Ireland’s 3Arena.

Along with the fan support and momentum of having his first professional fight on Irish soil, the undefeated McKenna is going in this weekend as the betting favorite to win the title left vacant after the IBF stripped former champ Janibek Alimkhanuly.

But, former world champion Malignaggi, speaking on the Combat & Coffee show, hosted by Malignaggi and Big Jimbo Reynolds on Malignaggi’s Paulie TV YouTube channel, says an Oliha victory could ignite a rediscovered passion in Italy’s fistic community.

“Listen, you're going to favor McKenna, who is a more known prospect and probably the guy that Zuffa is trying to push a little bit, but Oliha coming in at 21-0 has not had it easy in his career,” reminded Malignaggi.

Malignaggi notes that, despite his own undefeated record, Oliha, born in Turin, Italy, to Nigerian immigrant parents, hasn’t yet sparked excitement in his native land.

“I would like, as an Italian American, to have seen Oliha get more press in Italy,” continued Malignaggi. “The problem with the boxing press in Italy is that it's almost non-existent. Plus, Oliha not being a blood Italian… he was born in Torino, but with an African background, maybe not everybody takes to him right away… I think the main reason he hasn't caught attention yet is that sometimes it's not easy for people to take for the fighter who doesn't look like them right away.

“But also, boxing doesn't get a lot of coverage in Italy. I do think that if Oliha could bring home a world championship, it would be a big story in Italy. It would give a little bit of momentum to some boxing news coverage in Italy, which has been really poor for the last 30-35 years, since the TV contracts for big-time boxing went away.”

Malignaggi says although it may take some extra time, Italy has a history of warming up to its domestic fighters, regardless of race or color, and if Oliha were to win, he could quickly find himself enjoying national hero status.

“Italy has had some really fan-favorite black fighters, Nino La Rocca and Sumbu Kalambay, back in the day, they were really fan-favorite black fighters from Italy… You had guys like Kalambay and La Rocca, and (Loris) Stecca, and (Patrizio) Oliva in the 80s, even Luigi Minchillo was a solid fighter as well… It would be fun to see a world boxing champion from Italy again.

Still, Malignaggi keeps it real regarding 28-year-old “El Chapo” Oliha’s chances against McKenna.

“He’s (McKenna) a good fighter, tall, big for the weight class, and it’s going to be in Ireland, on a Zuffa show. And of course, you know, Dana White likes his Irish guys and obviously, you're always going to gravitate a little bit to your own kind.”

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Date: Saturday 8 August 2026
Location: 3Arena - Dublin, Ireland
TV/Stream: Sky Sports | Paramount+

Start Times
YouTube: 5 pm BST | 12 pm ET | 9 am PT (Preliminary Card)
Sky Sports | Paramount+: 7 pm BST | 2 pm ET | 11 am PT (Main Card)

Promoted by: Zuffa Boxing

Main Card

Vacant IBF Middleweight Championship
Aaron McKenna (20-0, 10 KOs) vs. Etinosa Oliha (22-0, 10 KOs)

10 Round Middleweight Contest
Callum Walsh (16-0, 11 KOs) vs. Tyler Denny (21-4-3, 1 KO)

10 Round Light-Heavyweight Contest
Joseph Ward (12-1, 8 KOs) vs. Artjom Kasparian (14-0, 12 KOs)

8 Round Middleweight Contest
Sam Hickey (5-0, 2 KOs) vs. Brad Axe (5-1)

6 Round Cruiserweight Contest
Patrick O’Connor (3-0, 3 KOs) vs. Ibrahim Mercan (6-0-1)

Preliminary Card

8 Round Middleweight Contest
Stephen McKenna (16-1, 15 KOs) vs. Owen O’Neill (14-2, 1 KO)

10 Round Middleweight Contest
Connor Coyle (22-0, 10 KOs) vs. Mark Beuke (13-3, 7 KOs)

6 Round Middleweight Contest
Louis Greene (18-4, 12 KOs) vs. Daniel Buciuc

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Prelims

[JamesPhilips]

The Joe Ward fight seems to have gone under the radar…. It’s a good match up

[SeanBrennan]

I’ve not got sky (we have sky but we not the bits the wife likes) so I only caught the prelims. The other McKenna won well but does swing wildly.

[Gnome]

I'm watching on Sky One. The place seems packed already which is nice to see.

[MightyWarrior]

This might be the 2 most obscure fighters meeting for a “world middleweight title” of all time

[MightyWarrior]

Brad THE AXEMAN Axe coming up

( he’s a very good body puncher we’re told )

Against Sam Tricky Hickey

[ShadrachSimmo]

Brad THE AXEMAN Axe coming up

( he’s a very good body puncher we’re told )

Against Sam Tricky Hickey

Was Hickeys walk-in RUN DMC? I’ve just tuned in. Fckin criminal if it wasn’t..

[ShadrachSimmo]

This might be the 2 most obscure fighters meeting for a “world middleweight title” of all time

I’m so out of touch now I’m bordering on casual ( )
But this should be an IBO title fight it’s further proof that world titles mean fck all now apart from cash.

[Ruthless-RKO]

Looks like the whole card is on Sky One.

[keithmoonhangover]

Callum Walsh is 1/6 against Tyler Denny, just sayin'.

[MightyWarrior]

This might be the 2 most obscure fighters meeting for a “world middleweight title” of all time

I’m so out of touch now I’m bordering on casual ( )
But this should be an IBO title fight it’s further proof that world titles mean fck all now apart from cash.

I still try and stay in touch as much as possible, but I’ve never heard of either of these two.

How do you think these two would get on with Marvin Hagler

[Ruthless-RKO]

What a knockout.

There was no urgency from the medics to get in there and take a look at him.

[ShadrachSimmo]

This might be the 2 most obscure fighters meeting for a “world middleweight title” of all time

I’m so out of touch now I’m bordering on casual ( )
But this should be an IBO title fight it’s further proof that world titles mean fck all now apart from cash.

I still try and stay in touch as much as possible, but I’ve never heard of either of these two.

How do you think these two would get on with Marvin Hagler

How would they get on with Kevin Finnegan and Tony Sibson?..

[ShadrachSimmo]

What a knockout.

There was no urgency from the medics to get in there and take a look at him.

That’s exactly what I was shouting when the ref put him in the recovery position. Fckin woeful reaction from them.

[handsofstone]

What a knockout.

There was no urgency from the medics to get in there and take a look at him.

That’s exactly what I was shouting when the ref put him in the recovery position. Fckin woeful reaction from them.

Same

[MightyWarrior]

This looks a good match up if their records are anything to go by

[JamesPhilips]

Joe Ward fight very interesting

[handsofstone]

Could be 2 KO of the night bonuses on the trot for Hickey, 100k, not bad at all

[handsofstone]

I heard Kasparian speak, he ain't English

[JamesPhilips]

I heard Kasparian speak, he ain't English

He’s from Russia via Holland now based in UK

[MightyWarrior]

He looks like a mini Alen Babic, but without the punch

[handsofstone]

Ward's gassed as a fart