Conway and McKenna staged the semi-finals of Prizefighter on a fireworks night in Japan

AARON MCKENNA and Kieron Conway will meet in the semi-finals of Britain vs Ireland after claiming victory in the Prizefighter quarterfinals.

On the first fight night of Matchroom's Japanese venture, all four quarter-finals took place and there were fireworks in a quartet of 10 middleweight rounds at the Yamato Arena in Suite.

Northampton's Conway got off to a flying start in the first fight of the night, defeating China's Ainiwaer Yilixiati in the seventh round. Yilixiati was unbeaten since 2017 but Conway proved his class and it was a big right hand that finally forced the referee to stop things with one minute left in the seventh.

With his place in the last four assured, Conway can sit back and see who he fights next when McKenna takes on Florida's Jeovanny Estela in the second quarter-final of the night and a battle between two undefeated middleweights.

Estela started the contest well and landed a big right hand in the first round that McKenna took well. And the Los Angeles-based Irishman quickly got involved in the fight and rocked Estela with a big left hook in the fourth.

From there it was a showdown for McKenna as she began to wear down Estela, landing heavy shots to the head and body. We were turning in one direction but Estela somehow managed to make the last lap on her feet.

However, McKenna would not deny his split of the knockout bonus of the night, with a $100,000 split between whoever could finish his fight inside the farthest, by preventing a stoppage with less than a minute left in the 10th.

In the fight of the night, Kazuto Takesako earned a unanimous decision victory over Durham's Mark Dickinson in three quarter-finals. The two were evenly matched and had their own bags of success throughout the conflict. When 10 o'clock struck, both of them opened fire trying to stop themselves late but they were still standing as the final bell rang.

The scorecards were read in Japanese which meant Dickinson would not have known he had been beaten until Takesako's hand was raised. The judges' cards 96-94, 97-93 and 98-92 all favored the Tokyo resident.

The fourth and final quarter-final of the night and the main event was a Japanese derby between local favorites Riki Kunimoto and Eiki Kani, in what was a rematch of their March clash in Nagoya.

That night, Kunimoto won by stoppage in the sixth round but Kani came here looking for revenge. He didn't have much success in the opening two rounds but began to dominate in the third as the fight intensified.

But Kunimoto roared back in the fourth and sent Kani back to the ropes with a right hook 60 seconds into the round. What followed was a relentless attack by Kunimoto but Kani somehow managed to hang in there.

A left hook in the last minute of the round hurt Kani again, however, with so many punches back at him the referee looked like he was considering a stoppage. Kani hit the bell but it was the same at the start of the fifth and the referee decided to go in with 1:55 left.

Kunimoto is about to get his revenge on Takesako, the only man who beat him. The two met in May 2021 when Takesako was eliminated in the first round but three years later they will meet with a place in the final at stake.

“There's more to come,” Matchroom CEO Frank Smith said last night. “But this was a happy start.”