Matchroom Boxing has officially gone old school, announcing a ‘Prizefighter’ series similar to the popular Sky Sports variant that was put together by Barry Hearn fifteen years ago, and the ‘World Boxing Super Series’ in more recent times.
Sky Sports’ Prizefighter series ran between 2008-2015, concluding after 35 tournaments, with the likes of Audley Harrison, Gavin Rees, Rocky Fielding and Terry Flanagan each using the round-robin style competition to either further their careers or kickstart them.
Now Matchroom have confirmed the rebirth of the idea, taking the tournament to DAZN in a ‘Japanese venture’ that sees the quarter-finals of the middleweight tournament in Nagoya on March 31st, with a $1 million prize for the winner.
Introducing a new format for our PRIZEFIGHTER series ✨
Our Japanese venture with @weare_NSN and Rakuten launches with an 8 man Middleweight tournament with a $1million prize pot.
8 fighters, 4 quarter finals, 3 fight nights, 2 semi finals, 1 winner. pic.twitter.com/euLWlhbsAX
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) January 31, 2024
Amongst the participants is Northampton’s Kieron Conway (20-3-1), who recently made the move to the 160lb division and secured an arguable career-best win over the former British champion Linus Udofia back in October.
Meanwhile, former European and Commonwealth Youth gold medallist Mark Dickinson (6-0) will seek to use the platform to announce himself to the division, despite just six professional contests to his name.
The other standout name, and possibly one of the favourites to win the competition is Ireland’s Aaron McKenna (18-0), who is a WBC World youth champion and is undefeated in eighteen bouts since turning professional.
As the 24-year-old begins to step up his competition, entry into a Prizefighter tournament is a bold and brave move, but should he come out on top, the baby-faced McKenna would be thrust up the middleweight rankings.
Also entering are Riku Kunimoto (10-1) and Eiki Kani (8-3-3) who will be fighting for the Japanese Middleweight Title in their respective quarter-final.
America’s Jeovanny Estela (14-0) will take on Conway, China’s Ainiwaer Yilixiati (19-1) faces McKenna and Mark Dickinson arguably has the toughest draw, against Anauel Ngamissengue (13-0), who is ranked as the world number nine with the WBO and tenth with the IBF.