By Declan Taylor
FRANK SMITH challenged eight fighters in Matchroom’s Japanese debut to prove they were worthy of a middleweight title fight.
Matchroom CEO Smith has signed a three-year deal to promote in Japan, a first for the company, and the new project will kick off on July 15 at the Yamato Arena in Suita.
It is the first of nine shows spread over the next three years and also marks the return of Matchroom’s old Prizefighter series, where eight fighters from the same weight class compete for prize money.
The old Prizefighter night in the UK used to consist of quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals all on the same night with matches reduced to three rounds. However, the Japanese committee decided not to allow a similar format here so the three stages were spread out over the rest of the year.
All eight men will go 10 rounds on the first night of the event, with the four winners advancing to the semi-finals. Each night there will be a $100,000 prize pool that will be split between whichever one of them wins by stoppage, while the overall winner will take home a guaranteed $1 million.
But Smith believes the most important thing may be what awaits the winner after the final.
“The prize money is amazing and some of the fighters have never had the opportunity to earn that much money before,” he said. Boxing News.
“But it also gets the winner out of essentially three championship fights. Because they’re boxing for 10 rounds in the quarter-finals, then 12 rounds in the semi-finals and the final, which gets them closer to a world title fight whereas the three-round concept doesn’t really do that.
“But winning these three fights would put them in the right picture. The middleweight division is wide open, there are a lot of opportunities there and whoever wins this one would put themselves in a position to have a chance at a title.
“We tried to do the old Prizefighter format with all the matches in one night but the Japanese committee wouldn’t let us do that. That’s why we split it into three nights.
“We wanted to do a one-night tournament like we did in England but the committee didn’t allow it. I think if we had more time we could have done it but in the end we felt it was better to focus on this format.”
British boxer Kieron Conway, a regular on Matchroom shows, will join compatriot Mark Dickinson in the quarter-finals while unbeaten Irishman Aaron McKenna will also be in contention.
Matchroom are still finalising dates for the semi-finals and finals, which will round out their first year in Japan, but Smith revealed they may return to a more traditional approach to the promotion in their second and third years.
“I don’t think we’ll continue the Prizefighter concept after this event,” he added. “We’ll be looking for other events, but it’s got us up and running. The three events in the first year are these three shows – quarterfinals, semi-finals and finals.
“We signed a three-year deal with three events a year. It was quite quick and we completed the deal within six months of our first meeting. It’s a great deal and there’s a lot to look forward to. Japanese boxing is in a great position so being able to do more shows there would be huge for us.”
Quarter-final lineup:
- Kuzuto Takesako vs. Mark Dickinson, 10 rounds – middleweight
- Riku Kunimoto vs. Eiki Kani, rematch, 10 rounds – middleweight
- Kieron Conway vs. Ainiwaer Yilixiati, 10 rounds – middleweight
- Aaron McKenna vs. Jeovanny Estela, 10 rounds – middleweight
