Aaron McKenna admits his 18-hour journey home from Japan was made all the sweeter after punching his ticket to the semi-finals of the $1 million-rich Prizefighter tournament by stopping American Jeovanny Estela late in in their 10-rounder last week.
The Monaghan middleweight faces Northampton’s Kieron Conway in the final four of the rebooted series in Japan, shown live on DAZN. The winner of what started as an eight-man competition stands to bag the million dollar purse.
Both McKenna and Conway came away from Japan richer after each pocketing a three-way share of a $100,000 knockout bonus offered by the promoters for anyone scoring a stoppage in the quarterfinals.
Conway had knocked out China’s Ainiwaer Yilixiati in the seventh round of their fight, while a third fighter – Riku Kunimoto – also won via TKO, halting archrival Eiki Kani in the fifth round with the Japanese middleweight title on the line. Kunimoto meets compatriot Kazuto Takesako in the other Prizefighter semi-final on a date to be announced.
Nicknamed “The Silencer,” McKenna dominated Estela but was made to wait until the 10th and final stanza before dispatching his man with 58 seconds left in the round.
"When there is big money on the line like there is for the knockout, it always makes the fight more exciting,” McKenna said at the post-fight press conference at the Yamato Arena in Osaka. "I always intend to keep my composure, but I always intend to go for the knockout.
"You can’t get carried away but every round I was in there, I knew I nearly had him [Jeovanny Estela]. So, I was very happy in the 10th round when I finally got him out of there.”
And McKenna is aware a difficult test awaits him in the final should he see off Conway."I managed to see parts of both Japanese fighters [Kazuto Takesako and Riku Kunimoto],” he said. "I can see that they both have a highly aggressive style, and they throw a lot of punches. They have entertaining fights, and it is great to see fights like this, especially in a big tournament like Prizefighter that is seen worldwide.”
