Monaghan middleweight Aaron McKenna bids for $1m prize in Japan

McKenna together with seven other middleweight fighters will vie for the $1m (€922,250) purse for the overall winner.

The tournament was originally scheduled to take place in early spring will now begin with the quarter-finals on July 15 in Osaka. The fights will be shown live on DAZN.

Today's Sports News in 90 Seconds - 22nd May

The Smithborough boxer who is currently training in Los Angeles meets unbeaten 23-year-old American-Puerto Rican Jeovanny Estela in the last eight. Estela has a 14-0 pro record with five of those wins coming inside the distance.

Half of McKenna’s 18 wins have been achieved inside the distance. He won the WBC International middleweight belt last year.

Predictably, given the tournament is taking place in Japan with financial backing from a number of local companies, three of the eight participating boxers are from Japan. Two British boxers, Kieran Conway and the unbeaten Mark Dickinson are also participating.

Each Fight Night in the series will be boosted with a $100,000 (€92,225) knockout bonus on offer for successful fighters who stop their opponents inside the distance.

Meanwhile, the seven Irish boxers bidding to secure slots at the Paris Olympics will learn on Thursday who they face in the qualification event in the Indoor Arena Huamark in Bangkok.

The squad finished a training camp in Hua Hin in Thailand on Monday with teams from Germany, India, USA, Cuba, Great Britain – who has former Irish World champion Amy Broadhurst in their ranks – Mongolia, Switzerland, Belgium, Norway, and New Zealand.

The seven boxers all competed at the first qualification tournament in Milan where Grainne Walsh (66kg) and Daina Moorehouse (50kg) were particularly unlucky not to secure slots at the Paris Games.

The other five bidding to make the team for Paris are: Tokyo bronze medallists at 71kg, Aidan Walsh; European Games athletes Jenny Lehane (54kg), Sean Mari (51kg), and Kelyn Cassidy (80kg), along with super-heavy Martin McDonagh – who claimed three Irish titles – U22, Senior and Elite, in a ten-month period in 2023 – and impressed at the first qualification tournament in Italy.

With the exception of Cassidy who has to finish in the top three to secure a slot an Olympic place, reaching the semi-finals will be sufficient for the other six to secure Olympic qualification.

With an estimated 650 boxers entered it will probably take four wins to secure a place in the last four. The action in the ring begins on Friday.