Flanagan secures World title shot thanks to Ormond win

VICTORY over Stephen Ormond has earned  Terry Flanagan a shot at the vacant WBO lightweight World title.

The WBO have ordered Flanagan and undefeated Mexican Jose Zepeda  meet for the title with promoters Queensberry Promotions and Top Rank allowed 15 days to negotiate and a purse bid will be held if an agreement isn’t reached.

Flanagan, the current WBO European champion, was due to face the winner out of Ray Beltran and Takahiro Ao who met last Friday night, but when Beltran failed to make the stipulated weight limit at the official weigh-in, the title was still declared vacant even though Beltran won by stunning second round stoppage.

The Manchester favourite earned the shot after he beat Dubliner Stephen Ormond earlier this year. Ormond was disqualified for use of the head in round nine of the Wolverhampton hosted clash.

Victory on a night were things just didn’t go right for Ormond would have left him trading leather with Zepeda, ranked at number five in the WBO, who has stopped 20 out of his 23 victim, with 16 KO’s coming inside the first three rounds and is relishing the showdown.

Ormond has recently seen Derry Matthews, a foe he defeated claim the WBA Interim World title and will now have to watch as Flanagan challenges for World honours.

“I don’t care who I face, I just want that WBO title and to be the world champion,” said Flanagan.

“It was a surprise when Beltran failed to make the weight, I would have loved to have ended up facing him as it would have been a right good fight between us with our styles, but now it will be Zepeda and that looks like a right good fight as well,”

“He’s got a cracking record, it’s mostly all early KO’s, but he’s never faced anyone of my calibre in his career yet. He’s undefeated, I’m undefeated, one of us is going to lose the ‘0’, but it isn’t going to me.”