Aaron McKenna to defend IBF world title against Aleksejevs on 4 December

Aaron McKenna will make the first defence of his IBF middleweight title against unbeaten Jevgenijs Aleksejevs in Riyadh on Friday 4 December, live on Sky Sports.

The Monaghan fighter headlines Zuffa Boxing 14 at The Venue after winning the belt against Etinosa Oliha at Dublin’s 3Arena in August.

McKenna is unbeaten in 21 professional fights, with 10 knockouts. His challenger also brings a perfect record into his first world-title fight.

Aaron McKenna’s first world-title defence

McKenna’s victory over Oliha completed a breakthrough spell for the Irishman. He had beaten former world champion Liam Smith on points in April 2025 before claiming the IBF belt in his first professional appearance on home soil.

Now his attention turns to defending it away from Dublin.

As confirmed in the Sky Sports announcement, McKenna faces a challenger who has won all 20 of his professional bouts, 10 by stoppage.

Who is Jevgenijs Aleksejevs?

Latvia’s Aleksejevs, nicknamed The Hurricane, is a former kickboxer who now gets his first opportunity to become a boxing world champion.

His recent wins include a unanimous decision over Przemyslaw Zysk to claim a regional title and a 10-round victory over Italy’s Damiano Falcinelli in February.

McKenna has the higher-profile wins, but Aleksejevs arrives with an unbeaten record of his own. The champion will be looking to build on his performance against Oliha and establish himself at world level.

Massey and Chelli feature on the undercard

Jack Massey meets former world-title challenger Andrew Tabiti in a 10-round cruiserweight contest.

The former European champion is looking to recover from his stoppage defeat by Cheavon Clarke in June. Massey dropped Clarke twice in the fourth round before being stopped in the seventh.

Zak Chelli also faces Jesse Hart over 10 rounds at light-heavyweight. Our report on Chelli’s Zuffa Boxing deal covers the background to his move.

Elsewhere, Ryan Rozicki takes on Gaetan NTambwe at cruiserweight, while heavyweight Vladyslav Sirenko faces former world champion Charles Martin on the preliminary card.

How to watch McKenna vs Aleksejevs

The card will be shown live on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland on Friday 4 December. US and Canadian viewers can watch on Paramount+.

An exact main-event ring-walk time has not been confirmed.

For more announcements, results and upcoming fights, visit our boxing hub.