Kazuto Takesako and Riku Kunimoto into Prizefighter last four

Osaka, Japan – The semi finals of Matchroom’s newfangled Prizefighter tournament are now in place, with Kazuto Takesako and Riku Kunimoto set to do battle for a place in the $1m final against the winner of Kieron Conway vs Aaron McKenna. 

Kazuto Takesako and Mark Dickinson didn’t waste a single second before getting down to action in the third quarter final and it turned out to be the best fight of the tournament thus far.

Takesako 17-2-1 (15 KOs) was competing at title level long before the aggressive, untested Dickinson, 6-1 (2 KOs), had even turned professional. No matter, the 25-year-old from County Durham in England didn’t seem unduly bothered by the gap in experience and caught Takesako with a nice uppercut in the first minute of the fight. The Japanese fighter fired back as the two stood in front of each other, taking turns to land hard, heavy shots.

The pace didn’t slow in the second. Takesako landed a hard right hand to the body and Dickinson got onto the back foot and gave ground – a clear sign that he had felt the weight of the shot given the way the fight had started – and Takesako began to fight with a touch more composure than his younger opponent, calmly absorbing the confident Dickinson’s best shots but replying in more economical fashion. 

Dickinson was landing plenty of shots of his own but was being made to pay for a lack of head movement and though he’d started the fight like a whirlwind, his attacks started to come in bursts. Takesako, meanwhile, smartly bided his time, waited for gaps and picked short, snappy shots through the guard. Dickinson did land a straight right hand as the round came to an end and planted himself directly in front of Takesako in the fourth. Dickinson was having success with his right uppercut and managed to draw blood from Takesako’s nose as he enjoyed his best round of the fight. Dickinson didn’t hurt Takesako but had established a rhythm. 

Dickinson opened the fifth with another uppercut and although Takesako always responded, his punches were now looking more forced and had lost some of their snap. With battle lines drawn, both fighters took turns to punch straight shots through the other man’s guard. 

Dickinson seemed to have grown accustomed to Takesako’s power and bounced off his stool to answer the bell for the seventh round whereas the feeling was that Takesako was pushing out his punches a little more. Things quickly changed and Dickinson got up on his feet and began to move as the exertions of the previous rounds began to catch up on him. Takesako continued to plug away and looked to have reestablished a grip on the fight as the round ended. 

The fight continue to move in Takesako’s direction in the eighth as Dickinson’s output dropped. The 33-year-old took advantage and fired off short sharp bursts to take the round but spent the first part of the ninth following Dickinson around the ring as the English fighter tried to move and pick his shots. He found a hard accurate right but his feet slowed and Takesako took advantage, firing in combinations whenever Dickinson stopped.

Neither fighter boxed the 10th and final round like they were confident of earning a decision. Again, Takesako was the busier of the two but Dickinson landed the more eye catching shots and got the home fighter’s attention with a right hand and again stunned him with a left hook. 

After 10 hard rounds, the fight went to the scorecards and Takesako was awarded a unanimous decision. The scores were 96-94, 97-93 and 98-92. 

Takesako will fight his countryman, Riku Kunimoto, in the semi final after the Japanese middleweight champion successfully defended his belt against Eik Kani.

In March, Kunimoto, 12-1 (6 KOs), stopped Kani, 8-5-3 (4 KOs), in six rounds to win the belt and started the rematch in confident fashion, taking the center of the ring and loading up with a solid jab and heavy hooks. Kani quickly decided to close the distance but was doing so without throwing shots and Kunimoto spent much of the messy opener shoving his opponent away rather than establishing his range with punches of his own. 

Kunimoto appeared frustrated by Kani’s method of walking into range in the second but didn’t help his own cause by choosing to plant himself in center ring rather than giving himself room to work with. Midway through the third, Kani made him pay. He briefly hurt Kunimoto with a left hook and attempted to press home his advantage, by letting both hands go. 

Early in the fourth, it was Kani’s turn to be hurt when a right hand caused him to stumble back to the ropes. Kunimoto followed him and exploded into action. For third seconds, Kani was under relentless fires Kunimoto ragdolled him round the ring. After brief respite, he was hurt by another left hook and again fell back into the ropes. Somehow, Kani survived but finished the round marked under both eyes. 

The end was near and, early in the fifth, a big right robbed Kani of any movement and the fight became target practice for Kunimoto. Eventually another clean right hand through the guard caused the referee to step in and stop the fight.

Kunimoto will share a $100,000 knockout bonus pool with Kieron Conway and Aaron McKenna who recorded comfortable victories earlier in the night. Conway and McKenna will meet in the other semi-final.