McKenna (21-0, 10 KOs) became the newest middleweight champion when he claimed the IBF belt via an impressive unanimous decision victory over Etinosa Oliha in Dublin on Saturday night. In his post-fight press conference, the Monaghan man made no secret of his desire to go on and become the first Ring champion at middleweight since Canelo Alvarez in 2021.

McKenna, 27, has been bumped to No. 3 in The Ring's middleweight rankings, rising three spots from six.

Now McKenna wants to go straight for No. 1 Adames, who also holds the WBC 160-pound title. The pair know each other from sparring and the Irishman says he has gleaned a lot of confidence from those rounds behind closed doors.

“I sparred him a lot in a Robert Garcia's gym back in 2019,” McKenna told The Ring.

“I was only 19 years old and it was great sparring for me and I did really well.”

When asked whether he thinks Adames would still remember those sessions, McKenna laughs.

“Oh he remembers me yeah,” he said. “Without a shadow of a doubt he remembers me, don't worry about that.

“Sometimes we had to pull him out of his house to get him into the gym for sparring.”

Adames (25-1-1, 18 KOs) has held the full WBC title since he was upgraded from his position as interim champion in May 2024. Since then he has beaten Terrell Gausha and Austin "Ammo" Williams either side of a controversial draw with Hamzah Sheeraz, which many thought he won.

Erislandy Lara (WBA) and Denzel Bentley (WBO) are the other champions in the division but IBF champ McKenna says 32-year-old Adames remains the man to beat.

“Obviously I think it's me but outside of that, Adames is No. 1,” he said. “He’s probably been the world champion for longest at this stage.

“I just hope I can fight for the Ring Magazine title so, with Adames at No.1, I’d like to do that against him.

“As a world champion now I'm going to be an active fighter. The other world champions haven’t been fighting too often and I want to deliver for the fans.

“I believe belts need to be fought for two to three times a year and my plan is to unify the division as quickly as possible. Hopefully that comes against Adames sooner rather than later.”