McKenna to rebuild with explosiveness promised after bout of the year contenders
Stephen McKenna will 'rebuild' as a middleweight after suffering the first defeat of his career late last year.
'The Hitman' (15-1, 14 KOs) believes he did enough to get the decision against Lee Cutler in their WBC International Silver Super Welterweight title bout, but admits the December performance in Liverpool wasn't the real him.
Cutler won via majority decision after two judges scored the fight 95-93 and 96-92 in his favour, while the other had it a 94-94 draw after ten rounds.
The bout came four months after McKenna scored a third-round knockout win over Joe Laws in one of the most action-packed fights you will ever see at Barnsley's Oakwell Stadium.
Both his bouts in 2024 were fight of the year contenders with brilliant build-ups and the 28-year-old is ready for bigger challenges ahead.
"I'm going to rebuild now into a 160 pound fighter," said McKenna. "I'm very big, too big for 154. My last performance wasn't the true Stephen McKenna.
"I think with weight issues and things like that I didn't perform to my best capabilities so moving up to 160, you're going to see the old Stephen - knockouts and explosiveness.
"I carry a lot of power but in that fight I didn't feel myself. But it was a good fight. I'm always an exciting fighter no matter what, two fight of the year contenders.
"The Laws one was crazy, what a fight for boxing and the Cutler one as well. It was a good fight, a fight that was close.
"I thought I nicked it but the judge with the draw could have been a fair result but I still thought I'd nicked it but it's one of them things."
He added: "No matter what I do next it's going to be exciting. I can go straight into a big fight right now, there'll be plenty of opportunities for me.
"I'm an exciting fighter as well so I'm looking forward to the future."
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