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By Owain Comeford
Aaron McKenna certainly lived up to his nickname as the Monaghan man silenced both the support and efforts of Puerto Rican-American boxer, Jeovanny Estela this morning in the quarter-finals of the Prizefighter tournament in Osaka, Japan on Monday morning.
Known as the ‘Silencer’, it was far from quiet in the Yamato Arena as the WBC International and Youth World champion emphatically finished a tough, gritty opponent following a great display of technical boxing.
It was ruthless and spectacular from the 24-year-old Hennessy fighter, as he solidified his status as the tournament favorite and set up an exciting semi-final with Kieron Conway with a beatdown that ended in a tenth-round stoppage.
The 8-time National Champion started strong, setting a blistering pace in the first round against the unbeaten Estela, delivering sharp hooks to the body followed by a precise right uppercut midway through the round.
McKenna took a big right hand at the end of the first round, which seemed to stun the LA-based Irishman, but he quickly recovered in the second round.
By the fourth round, Estela was visibly feeling the pressure that McKenna was putting on, as the Puerto Rican-American tried to come back swinging but couldn’t find success, while McKenna unleashed a series of hooks to the body and head of Estela.
Continuing his dominance in the fourth round, McKenna unleashed combination strikes with precision, landing six consecutive left hooks on Estela without any reply.
McKenna’s assault continued throughout the sixth round, displaying relentless pace and pressure, while mixing up his shots with a beautiful left uppercut followed by a straight right-hand.
Increasing his output as the fight progressed, Estela could only try to clinch with McKenna, a tactic that the Monaghan man took advantage of by delivering devastating hooks to the midsection in the seventh and eighth rounds, before Estela managed to open a cut on McKenna’s brow with a clean left hook, his first significant hit on the Irishman since the first round.
Once again, history repeated itself as the 24-year-old landed three consecutive left hooks to Estela’s head in the ninth round, before pushing Estela further with the referee stepping in two minutes into the tenth round following multiple unanswered strikes by McKenna, who finished with a trademark right hand that he had found success with early in the bout.
This morning’s victory for the ‘Silencer’ not only secures him a place in the semi-final of the Prizefighter tournament against Kieron Conway, bringing him one step closer to the $1 million prize for the winner, but also earns him an extra $100,000 for finishing his opponent.
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