Earlier today we had the Quarter Finals of the Prize Fighter Japan, with the 4 bouts taking place in a near empty Yamato Arena, in Suita City. The show, which had seemingly been forgotten by the Japanese based promoter, hadn’t really been advertised in Japan, had no Japanese broadcast and, seemingly, no Japanese fans in attendance in what was a rather embarrassing night for Matchroom, though a fun night for those who tuned in,m and for 3 of the fighters who managed to net a share of a $100,000 bonus for scoring stoppages.
The first of the four quarter finals saw Englishman Kieron Conway (21-3-1, 6) pick up the financial bonus for a stoppage as he broke down Chinese fighter Ainiwaer Yilixiati (19-2, 14). Yilixiati started well, but it wasn’t long until Conway found his groove, and began to punish the Chinese fighter with clean, accurate shots, showing the gulf in class between the two. Yilixiati showed his toughness, and was game throughout, but was broken down round by round. He was almost taken out in round 5 before the bout was eventually stopped in round 7 with Conway landing at will.
The second quarter final saw watch Irishman Aaron McKenna (19-0, 10) take on American Jeovanny Estela (14-1, 5), in what was a very one sided bout. McKenna set a high tempo, and despite being caught by a solid counter late in the opening round. McKenna kept the high tempo throughout the bout, often forcing Estela on to the ropes and refusing to give the American the space to work or counter. The pressure from McKenna was relentless, and he simply set a pace that Estela couldn’t cope with, whilst being ground down round after round. Despite the tempo and the relentless aggression from McKenna, Estela showed his toughness, heart and resiliency, refusing to be stopped as the rounds went on, but offering little in terms of aggression of his own. Round after round it seemed a case of “When?” and not “if?” McKenna was going to get the stoppage. Eventually, with just 55 seconds left, the referee finally stepped in and waved it off, putting an early end to the torture, and securing McKenna a bonus for the stoppage.
The action really heated up in the third quarter final as Englishman Mark Dickinson (6-1, 2) and Japanese puncher Kazuto Takesako (17-2-1, 15) [竹迫司登] took part in what was essentially a shoot out from the get go. Both men were unloading with big shots from the opening moments, with both happy to stand in front of the other, looking to uncork power shots. In round 2 it was the power of Takesako that forced the first cracks to show, as Dickinson was forced to hold on after eating some heavy leather, particularly a body shot, and got the warning that he shouldn’t go toe-to-toe with Takesako. Despite having success in rounds 2 and 3 Takesako was on the receiving end of some great shots in round 4, as Dickinson began to show his amateur pedigree. By 5 Takesako seemed to be feeling the pace somewhat, with his shots lacking the force they had had in the earlier rounds. Takesako managed to have his second wind in round 7, as he seemed to outland Dickinson, who looked to create some space part way through the round. Realising he had landed his best shots Dickinson moved to plan B early in round 9, as he began to box and move, rather than going to war, and punished Takesako when he made mistakes, before finally being dragged back into a war. With the bout being close, both men seemed to know they had to put it all on the line again in the final round, and that’s exactly what they did, brawling with huge shots being thrown by both. A left hand from Dickinson seemed to wobble Takesako, who was wobbled a second time by another left hook. Despite Takesako being clearly hurt in the final stages, Takesako had done enough to take the decision, with the bout remarkably going 10 rounds, and benign the first quarter final to not see the winner claim a share of the bonus for a stoppage.
The final quarter final bout saw the rematch between Japanese national champion Riku Kunimoto (12-1, 6) [国本陸] and Eiki Kani (8-5-3, 4) [可兒栄樹], with the two fighting back in March when the original date for the Prize Fighter quarter finals were set to take place. The first two rounds were dominated by Kunimoto, who seemed to be continuing to control the bout, as he did in their first clash, but in round 3 Kani managed to rock Kunimoto, as he began to find his rhythm. Sadly for Kani his success was short lived as Kunimoto looked to punish him later in the round. In round 4 the power of Kunimoto finally told as he wobbled Kani and then went for the finish, with a series of big right hands as Kani was forced to cover up and try to survive. A left hook later in the same round rocked Kani a second time as the ending began to look inevitable, though Kani managed to, some how, see out the round. Despite surviving round 4 he was stopped in round 5 as Kunimoto kept the punishment coming until the referee finally saved Kani.
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