The 27-year-old from Monaghan boxed beautifully to widely outpoint Etinosa Oliha (22-1, 10 KOs) and clinch the vacant strap on his first professional outing in his home country.

Now McKenna (21-0, 10 KOs), who was ranked at No. 6 by The Ring in the latest ratings, has vowed to “clean up the mess” in the middleweight division, which currently has a different champion with each sanctioning body.

The “Silencer” hopes to make history for his country by winning The Ring’s middleweight title, which has been vacant since Canelo Alvarez moved up to super middleweight in January 2021.

McKenna said: “Etinosa was ranked No. 5 with The Ring, I was No. 6 and that fight was the first time time that two guys in the Ring Magazine middleweight rankings have fought each other for literally years. I’d say that is going to give me a very good ranking with the Ring Magazine.

“I can’t remember the last guy to hold the Ring Magazine title in the middleweight division. It was Triple G [Golovkin] or Canelo so that’s another good one.

“I feel very strong at middleweight. The division is there to be taken over, it’s been dry for years since Triple G and Canelo left it. I said years ago that I’d be the man to take over and nobody really believed me.”

“In life you’ve got to prove yourselves sometimes and I think I’ve done that now. I just hope one of the other middleweight world champions will take on the fight so we can clean up this mess in the division.”

Erislandy Lara, who holds the WBA title, is The Ring’s No. 1 while Yoenli Hernandez sits second. WBC champion Carlos Adames sits at No. 3 while Troy Isley completes the top four.

Britain's Denzel Bentley, who was recently upgraded from interim to full WBO world champion is not currently inside The Ring’s top 10.

When asked which of the division’s big names he wants next, McKenna said: “I want to fight any of them, I want to unify, be an active world champion and that’s exactly what I’m going to be. I don’t want this belt being inactive. It doesn’t matter who I’m fighting as long as I’m unifying.

“I’m going to be easy to find now because of the belt, they’re all going to come out crawling now. If any of those world champions don’t want it, I’ll jump up to 168.”

Amari Jones (17-0, 15 KOs) will be McKenna’s first mandatory challenger as champion following his impressive third-round knockout of Vincenzo Gualtieri on May 22, cementing top spot with the IBF.

McKenna may be able to sidestep that obligation should he secure an immediate unification fight but, when asked directly about facing Jones, he said: “If the people want it then let’s have it. I’m afraid of no man and I’ll fight whoever’s next. My goal is to become the best in the middleweight division and unify.

“I want to be back as quickly as my body feels, I feel really good after that fight, no injuries. Whenever they want me out next, that’s when I’ll be out.”