Matchroom Boxing Inc., a major British boxing promotion entity, will resurrect ‘’Prize Fighter’’ middleweight boxing tournament on July 15 at Yamato Arena in Osaka Prefecture’s Suita, western Japan, with eight boxers taking part, it was announced on June 3 in Tokyo.
While the event was originally planned in this past March in conjunction with Kameda Promotion Co. as part of the ‘’3150FIGHT series,’’ it was postponed for various reasons.
The winner of the tournament will take home 1 million dollars, including the purses of two fights leading up to the final, while the loser in the final will get 250,000 dollars, according to organizers.
If a boxer wins in the first round, he will get the purse of 150,000 dollars (75,000 dollars for a loser), while the winner in the semifinal match will receive 250,000 dollars (125,000 dollars for a loser).
The knockout prize will also be at stake for each round with the total prize of 100,000 dollars. If all the four boxers in the first round come through with KO victories, each boxer will get 25,000 dollars. But if only one person wins by KO, he will receive the total 100,000 dollars.
After the July first round, the semifinal matches are slated for October with the final expected to be held next February, the organizers said.
From Japan, Japanese and World Boxing Organization’s Asia-Pacific middleweight champion Riku Kunimoto of Muto Boxing Gym will face fourth-ranked Japanese middleweight Eiki Kani of T & T Boxing Sports Gym in the first round. The two fought back in March in Nagoya, central Japan, with Kunimoto winning with a sixth-round stoppage.
Former Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation middleweight champion Kazuto Takesako of World Sports Boxing Gym will square off with Britain’s Mark Dickinson in the first round.