Prizefighter is back and its spawned victories for Kieron Conway and Tyrone McKenna in the quarter finals. Rather than being crammed into three hours, the latest incarnation of the popular tournament will take place over three nights and a $1 million dollar prize awaits the winner.
The Yamato Arena in Osaka played host to the quarter finals of the middleweight competition and China’s Ainiwaer Yilixiati and England’s Kieron Conway got the action underway.
Conway, 21-3-1 (6 KOs), is a tidy, upright boxer but has been found out at the highest level, losing to Souleymane Cissokho and Austin Williams. Still, the 28-year-old was much too accomplished for Yilixati, 19-2 (14 KOs), who came in with the reputation of being a serious puncher.
Aware of the potential danger, the taller Conway calmly weighed up the challenge in front of him, working behind a tight guard and retreating to the ropes before beginning to open up as the first round drew to a close. Yilixiati’s aggressive approach had accounted for the vast majority of his opponents within two rounds but – ominously for the Chinese fighter – he was stung by the first long right hand Conway threw.
Conway continued his patient approach in the second. Yilixiati’s effort couldn’t be faulted but he attacked and defended in straight lines and Conway couldn’t miss with one-twos. Every clean connection forced Yilixiati onto the back foot.
Yilixiati landed a good left to open the third but rather than allowing him to build any momentum from the brief success, Conway quickly retaliated with harder, cleaner shots of his own and had established complete control of matters.
Conway began to work more from the center of the ring in the fourth as Yilixiati struggled mightily to close the distance. Time and again he would run into a harder accurate jab and, clearly wary of catching the right hand which regularly came behind it, his attack lost a lot of their steam.
Conway nearly brought matters to a close in the fifth. A right uppercut hurt Yilixiati and Conway followed up with an accurate attack, catching Yilixiati with a series of left hooks. Swollen around the eyes, outgunned and unable to match Conway technically, Yilixiati survived and bravely pressed forwards but was now a more static target and his attacks had lost their snap.
By the seventh, the only real question was whether Conway could force a stoppage and claim his share of a $100,000 bonus pool. Confident that he had drawn Yilixiati’s sting, Conway began to go through the gears. He got through with a hard right hand and another clean left clearly sickened Yilixiati. Conway followed Yilixiati and kept punching, finally one well timed right hand forced the referee to step in and halt the action.
He moves on to the second round where he would face the winner of the fight between Aaron McKenna and Jeovanny Estela.
That fight between Ireland’s aggressive McKenna, 19-0 (10 KOs), and American stylist, Estela, 14-1 (5 KOs), looked like the pick of the quarter final match-ups but McKenna quickly grabbed the fight by the scruff of the neck and turned in a dominant display.
Characteristically, McKenna pressed the action from the start. The smaller Estela likes to move but was forced onto the back foot from the get-go and although he landed the odd clean counter, he was being forced to work at an uncomfortable pace. Just as McKenna began to build a head of steam, a right hand over the top momentarily froze his legs. Fortunately, for the Irishman, the bell sounded.
The 25-year-old gathered himself well between rounds. He dominated the second, stinging Estela with one particular right hook but much of his success came from denying the American any space to work. At times it wasn’t pretty but McKenna stayed glued to Estela’s chest, bullying him to the ropes and working him over.
Estela’s output dropped dramatically and McKenna found it increasingly easy to walk into range and let his hands go. He took the odd clipping counter but was untroubled and continued to overpower the previously unbeaten 23-year-old.
McKenna put a little extra distance between the two in the fourth and began to land clean punches. He couldn’t miss with the right hand and Estela took a series of flush punches as the round drew to a close. Estela refused to crumble but was fighting a losing battle. The fifth was an ordeal for the Floridian and McKenna ratcheted up the pressure as he went looking for the stoppage. Although he may have been guilty of head hunting, he dominated the round – at one point scoring with three connective left hooks – and Estela looked like a beaten man as he went back to his corner.
Estela showed determination but any hopes he had of winning the fight had gone and his dreams of winning the million-dollar prize had turned into a grim battle for survival. He made it through the seventh but McKenna isn’t the type of fighter to take his foot off the gas and he continued to bully Estela in the eighth. He emerged from one assault with a slight cut over his right eye but the blood didn’t slow his march and he again caught Estela with a series of clean shots in the corner.
The ninth started in brutal fashion for Estela, whose corner must have been considering pulling him out of the fight. He was unable to keep McKenna off and too tired to nullify his inside work. Still, Estela refused to go down and stayed upright despite taking countless clean shots.
McKenna continued the assault in the 10th and finally secured the stoppage with just 58 seconds left in the fight. There wasn’t one single clean fight-ending shot; the referee’s decision to step in was the result of round after round of relentless punishment. In truth, he could have stepped in a few rounds earlier.
McKenna moves on to a semi-final with Conway and the stoppage also earned him a share of the $100,000 bonus fund.
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