A recent session of mindless phone scrolling ended abruptly upon seeing McKenna cut a promo with WWE superstar Oba Femi.

Watching the quietly-spoken 27-year-old middleweight recreating the King of the Ring's famous strut exemplifies just how much things have changed for the Irishman since signing a promotional deal with Zuffa Boxing.

“That was the first and only one. I have to polish up on the strut though,” McKenna told The Ring when asked how many takes it took to nail the video.

After nine years in the paid ranks, McKenna (20-0, 10 KOs) finally gets his world title shot, boxing Italy's Etinosa Oliha (22-0, 10 KOs) for the vacant IBF middleweight crown, broadcast on Sky Sports from Dublin's 3Arena.

A combination of talent and limited visibility has always made McKenna very easy to avoid.

It looked like things would change after producing a career-best performance to outpoint former WBO 154-pound champion Liam Smith on the Chris Eubank-Conor Benn I undercard in April 2025.

He hasn’t boxed since.

Although the wait has been frustrating, McKenna has stuck to his guns. Refusing to take any shortcuts or jump into situations or deals that didn’t sit right with him, his time has finally arrived.

It has taken longer than he would have liked but McKenna’s joy at getting his long-awaited shot is matched by the pride at having done thing this way.

“It's exactly what I needed in my career,” he said.

“Words actually wouldn't be able to describe how good I'm feeling about it. The main thing was just to have patience. I made sure since my last bout, I've been in the gym ever since, I've been in shape.

“If I was to get any big opportunities in short or long notice, it wouldn't have mattered because I was in shape but now I've actually got this chance to become world champion, it's going to open a lot of doors for me. Becoming a world champion gives you a massive name.”

Lots of fighters accomplish their lifelong goal of winning a world title belt and subconsciously or not, take their foot off the gas. McKenna doesn’t have that mindset.

Beating Oliha and winning the IBF belt would be reward for the sacrifices that he has made over the years but he certainly won’t consider his mission accomplished.

Not the type to sit on his belt for as long as possible, he also will not immediately look for the most lucrative way to push in his chips and cash out. Instead, the 27-year-old is intent on proving himself to be the world's best middleweight and knows a win over Oliha serves as a crucial first step towards that aspiration.

“I've been saying it now for a long time that I believe I'm the best middleweight in the world. In my last fight [against Smith], I proved to a lot of people that I've got the boxing skills and ability to be that,” he said.

“It definitely was a perfect match. They [Zuffa] are interested in making the biggest and best fights possible, that's what I've been trying to do.

“I've been trying to get the biggest and best fights possible for about five or six years now so to actually be with people that can deliver that, that's their model of boxing, it's exactly what boxing needed. This is something that I've needed. I’m just so thankful and grateful that I've got a good team now.”

McKenna was just 16 years old when he, brother Stevie and father Fergal decided to cross the Atlantic and do their learning in America.

Over the past decade, they have continued to travel the world, getting as much experience as possible and waiting for their moment.

Given how many gyms McKenna has visited and just how many people he has sparred, it is slightly surprising that he and Oliha had never been in each other’s company until they met at the fight’s initial launch press conference.

“I’ve never crossed paths with him in any of the gyms but I've just watched a lot of his fights. He’s a good fighter and 22-0 for a reason,” he said.

“The world title fight always brings out the extra bit in fighters so I'm well prepared for anything he brings. I did my apprenticeship over in America from 16-22 and it's worked wonders for me. I've seen every style in the world there is to see and it's going to be no different on August 8.

“I've got a job to do, I'm going to take care of business and bring that world title back.”