Aaron McKenna has shared a recent account of his unlikely friendship with Kendrick Lamar, the 12-time Grammy winner who drove 4 hours to observe the Irish boxer struggle in California, in accordance with a brand new Sky Sports Boxing characteristic that resurfaced the story this week.
The Unlikely Friendship Between Irish Boxer Aaron McKenna and Kendrick Lamar
Aaron McKenna, a younger Irish prospect assembly Kendrick Lamar in a health club, buying and selling a number of conversations, then seeing the rapper flip up for a struggle after a four-hour drive. McKenna’s account defined this week, and the element that stands out is how atypical the assembly sounded earlier than it grew to become a narrative folks wished to listen to.
Aaron McKenna stated that the connection began whereas he and his brother Stephen had been sparring in coaching, with Lamar close by engaged on his personal boxing. McKenna stated: “We had been simply coaching me and my brother and there’s Kendrick [Lamar] coaching away. After he was completed coaching, he stayed on to observe me and Stephen spar. The subsequent day he was there once more, and we began to construct a number of conversations. Then he got here to my struggle, which was a 4 hour drive from the place he was dwelling. So for somebody like him to make the journey to observe me struggle, unbelievable. What a man. He’s a very nice fella.”
The story dates again to 2018, when McKenna was a 19-year-old prospect signed with Golden Boy Promotions and preventing commonly in California. The Pennsylvania-born rapper encountered the Smithborough siblings in a Los Angeles health club, then popped into McKenna’s dressing room earlier than and after his sixth skilled contest at Fantasy Springs On line casino, the place Aaron stopped Abel Reyes within the second spherical.
That contest got here on November 7, 2018, and the rapper was within the crowd, which is what McKenna describes as a “4 hour drive” from the place Lamar was dwelling on the time, possible Los Angeles to Indio, California. McKenna doesn’t say Lamar confirmed up for a photograph or a fast go to. He says Lamar skilled with the brothers, stayed to observe eight rounds of sparring, returned the following day, and made the drive to the struggle. That stage of element is what helps a narrative cross as actual fairly than manufactured.
Kendrick Lamar is without doubt one of the largest names in music, whereas McKenna was nonetheless constructing his profession in america, so a health club assembly turning into actual friendship carries some affect. The award-winning raper has been seen boxing earlier than, with studies and pictures throughout a number of years displaying him in gyms and doing mitt work in California. That makes McKenna’s recollection sound much less like a one-off movie star cameo. Kendrick Lamar has been seen coaching boxing for years, with footage from as early as 2019 displaying him working in a California health club.
McKenna has lengthy been offered as considered one of Eire’s notable boxing exports, and studies from his early US run tracked him as a teenage prospect preventing underneath the Golden Boy banner in California. A star displaying up at that stage didn’t change the file, however it did grow to be a kind of particulars that stayed connected to his rise. The unbeaten Irish middleweight is ranked No. 7 by The Ring and has known as for a struggle towards Hamzah Sheeraz after upsetting Liam Smith on the Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn undercard at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in April 2025.
