You wait ages for a bus and then two come along at the same time.

Aaron McKenna has wanted a high profile opportunity for years but the undefeated middleweight has become accustomed to fights either falling through at the last minute or promising talks evaporating into the ether.

Earlier this year, the 25 year-old Irishman finally found himself in charge of his own destiny.

McKenna, 19-0 (10 KOs), had to choose between a trip to Kazakstan to challenge Ring Magazine’s number one ranked middleweight, Janibek Alimkhanuly, for his unified WBO and IBF titles or a high profile fight with the quality, battle hardened Liam Smith, 33-4-1 (20 KOs), on the undercard of the massive middleweight grudge match between Chris Eubank Jr and Connor Benn.

The fight between Eubank Jr and Benn will headline Ring Magazine’s first ever boxing card which takes place at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday April 26th. DAZN will stream the event.

After weighing up the pro’s and cons of each option, McKenna decided that at this stage of his career, the fight with former WBO junior middleweight champion, Smith, made too much sense to turn down.

Anauel Ngamissengue stepped in to McKenna’s spot and, on April 5th, Alimkhanuly made a successful defence of his titles by knocking out the previously unbeaten Congolese fighter in five rounds.

McKenna told The Ring that whilst a fight with Alimkhanuly remains high on his list of priorities, the chance to introduce himself to to a worldwide audience against a fighter as well known and respected as Smith offered too much upside.

“It was very close,” he said of the fight with Alimkhanuly.

“These two offers came along at the same time and I was preparing for both in my head.

“I could have had that fight with Janibek over in Kazakhstan but with my team, we had a good discussion and we weighed up both the options and we decided to go with this one because I think this one's going to benefit my career more.

“The exposure this event alone has and then winning this fight would put a lot of eyes on me and then that fight would still be there with Janibek.”

McKenna admits that he was extremely tempted by the prospect of taking on Alimkhanuly but is well aware that by accepting the trip to Astana, he would have been a bit part player in Alimkhanuly’s homecoming.

McKenna is confident in his own abilities and is sure that there will be other world title opportunities.

He knows that beating Smith on such a massive stage would increase his standing in the sport dramatically and provide him with much more bargaining power if and when negotiations for a fight with the Kazakh do reopen.

“100%. It totally, definitely changes a lot of things and then you could even fight him somewhere else, in America or wherever it is.”