A legal matter is the reason behind the delay of Matchroom Boxing’s Prizefighter tournament, according to Frank Smith, the company’s CEO.
Matchroom relaunched Prizefighter in Japan last year. The original concept brought success to the promotional outfit, with the first tournament taking place in 2008 and the last in 2015. Matchroom switched things up for the Japanese relaunch, increasing the prize money to $1 million and guaranteeing the winner a shot at a world championship.
Things looked like they were going smoothly, with the quarterfinals taking place in Osaka, Japan, on July 15. Kieron Conway, Aaron McKenna, Kazuto Takesako and Riku Kunimoto all came out victorious in their bouts and were due to face each other – but no announcement on a date has been made since. Conway also recently competed against Ryan Kelly in November, winning the Commonwealth title.
“We are currently going through a legal matter,” Smith told BoxingScene. “In regards to the situation, I can’t speak too much on it. It’s unfortunate; we don’t want to be in the position, but we’ll see how things play out.
“I’m always hopeful [that the tournament will continue], but I can’t speak too much on the matter. Hopefully we can see the other side of it. We invested to make the tournament happen. The Prizefighter tournament is something that’s important to us as a business, and hopefully we can see the final.
“I hope [we can see Prizefighter back in Britain] and around the world as well,” he continued. “It’s a format I believe we can keep and keep building the brand. It’s something we want to get back up and running.”
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