Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: When did The Prizefighter series begin?
The Prizefighter series was a professional boxing tournament created by boxing promoter Barry Hearn and aired on Sky Sports. The format has an initial eight fighters, who compete in four quarter-finals of 3 x 3 minute rounds (number and length of the rounds is same as in amateur boxing) followed by two semi-finals and one final all on the same night.[1] The total prize money of the tournament is £80,000 with the winner of the tournament taking home £32,000, a figure that has increased from the initial top prize of £25,000 when the tournament first aired in April 2008. There have been 34 Prizefighter tournaments so far featuring 14 different weight divisions. The last tournament was held in 2015.
On 6 July 2013, at York Hall in Bethnal Green, London, the 31st installment of the Prizefighter competition showcased a field of eight light-welterweight fighters from the UK.
On 14 February 2015, at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool, the 35th installment of the Prizefighter competition showcased a field of eight middleweight fighters from the UK.
Audley Harrison, 2000 Olympics gold medalist, rolled back the years to become the first ever two-time Prizefighter champion and win the new-look Betfair Prizefighter trophy. He claimed the £32,000 winner’s cheque as well as £4,000 in stoppage bonuses the 41-year-old earned after TKO victories in the quarter-final and the final. Harrison overcome Martin Rogan, keeping the Belfast fighter at the end of his jab, in an absorbing semi-final contest before stopping American Derric Rossy in the second round of the final.[46]
— Michael Lomax, winner of the 3rd Prizefighter tournament
On 5 May 2012, the Prizefighter series went to Belfast for the first time. At the King's Hall, Belfast, the 24th installment of the Prizefighter competition showcased Irish fighters from the middleweight division. It was the first Prizefighter event that Betfair were title sponsors.
On 30 June 2010 Mendy competed in the 13th series of Prizefighter and came out the eventual winner of the competition. He came into the competition following a loss from undefeated Kenny Anderson. In his first fight he beat Sam Horton by TKO in the 1st round and broke the record for the fastest ever knockout in Prizefighter at 82 seconds (1:22min). In the semi-final he beat Daniel Cadman by unanimous decision with all the scorecards reading 29-28 in favour of Mendy. In the final he fought in form Paul David and won on unanimous decision again and received £32,000 for his win, the judges scorecards were all in favour of Mendy, 29-28, 29-28, 30-27.
In this series he broke an outstanding 3 Prizefighter records:
On 18 May 2013, at York Hall in Bethnal Green, London, the 30th installment of the Prizefighter competition showcased a field of eight Cruiserweight fighters from the UK.
On 29 October 2011, at York Hall, Bethnal Green, the 22nd installment of the Prizefighter competition showcased another weight division first, this time it was a field of boxers from the featherweight division.
On 23 February 2013, at York Hall in Bethnal Green, London, the 29th installment of the Prizefighter competition showcased an international field of eight heavyweight fighters from five different countries.
The tournament saw a field of eight fighters, four from the UK and four from the USA, take part in this special edition of Prizefighter.
He turned professional in 2010 and after winning his first three professional bouts as a Light Heavyweight, Fielding was offered the chance to drop down a weight to take part in The Super Middleweight Prizefighter Series after Kenny Anderson pulled out at short notice. Fielding went on to win the tournament causing a stoppage in each of his three fights and becoming the first boxer in a Prizefighter series to do so.
The tournament saw two fighters hoping to become second time Prizefighter champions, Audley Harrison and Martin Rogan. The other six participants were: Derric Rossy, Ian Lewison, Travis Walker, Albert Sosnowski, Claus Bertino and Timo Hoffmann.
Moroccan fighter Yassine El maachi won the tournament, beating Peter McDonagh, Colin Lynes and pre-tournament favourite Junior Witter by unanimous, split and majority decisions respectively to claim the Prizefighter trophy.[37]
On 14 November 2013, at York Hall in Bethnal Green, London, the 32nd installment of the Prizefighter competition showcased a field of eight heavyweight fighters from the UK and the USA.
On 7 June 2011, at York Hall, Bethnal Green, the 19th installment of the Prizefighter competition showcased a field of boxers from the welterweight division for the second time that included former world champion Junior Witter.
In the Prizefighter prospect slots, Olympic Gold medal hero Anthony Joshua MBE fought Croatian Hrvoje Kisicek in his third pro fight while Cruiserweight prospect Ben Ileyemi clashed with Moses Matovu in his second pro outing.
On 5 April 2014, at York Hall in Bethnal Green, London, the 34th installment of the Prizefighter competition showcased a field of eight welterweight fighters from the UK.
On 7 May 2011, at Alexandra Palace, London, the 18th installment of the Prizefighter competition showcased an international field of boxers from heavyweight division for the first time.
On 12 October 2011, at the Liverpool Olympia, the 21st installment of the Prizefighter competition showcased a field of boxers from the super flyweight division for the first time.
On 11 February 2012, at Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, the 23rd installment of the Prizefighter competition showcased fighters from the light-welterweight division for the second time.
The first Prizefighter took place at York Hall, Bethnal Green in April 2008. The event was televised live on Sky Sports and saw 8 heavyweight fighters compete for the title. Competitors for the first series were Martin Rogan, David Dolan, Dave Ferguson, Billy Bessey, Alex Ibbs, Darren Morgan, Paul Butlin and Colin Kenna.[2]
On 29 January 2011, at the Olympia, London, the 16th installment of the Prizefighter competition showcased boxers from the light heavyweight division for the second time. Former British champion Tony Dodson was the biggest name involved.
On 6 October 2012, at Liverpool Olympia, the 26th installment of the Prizefighter competition showcased field of Liverpudlian and Mancunian fighters from the lightweight division. Dubbed 'Rocky and the Betfair Prizefighters', previous Prizefighter winner Rocky Fielding took on Carl Dilks for the vacant English super-middleweight title after the Prizefighter tournament. The eight man line-up was described by many in the build-up as the best ever and included former British title holders Derry Mathews, Gary Sykes and Anthony Crolla.[40]
On 4 December 2009, the tournament saw the light welterweight's competing for the first time. Amongst the contestants was Gavin Rees, the first former World champion to compete in the tournament's history. The competition also had a number of European champions competing with Colin Lynes, Jason Cook and Ted Bami, a man who had also reached the final of the Welterweight prizefighter tournament in October 2008. Former British champions David Barnes and Young Mutley also took part as did unbeaten fighter Michael Grant and Welshman Barrie Jones. The draw for the competition was conducted by Floyd Mayweather, Jr..[23]