Ormond’s Mitchell Miss Out
By Jonny Stapleton
Perennial prospect Stephen Ormond will have to delay his boxing break through further after he had a massive bout with Kevin Mitchell cancelled over the last few days.
The Frank Warren promoted fighter was tipped by Bernard Dunne to fill the void left by his retirement, but has yet to get the opportunity to fulfil his much heralded potential.
And just when it looked like the 28 year old from Clondalkin has secured a fight that could propel him onto the world stage it was taken away from him last minute.
The former Irish amateur stand out was set to challenge Breidis Prescott and John Murray conqueror Mitchell but the East Londoner is unable to compete for the next six months and the fight was called off.
Fighting Mitchell meant both a step up in class and weight for Ormond, who was meant to challenge the British star for an intercontinental title, but his team were so confident the Irish prospect could win they took the bout for little or no money.
“Stephen was set to fight Kevin Mitchell in November but Mitchell can’t fight for six months so that had to be called off. It was a massive fight for Stephen but one we believed he could win,” trainer Pascal Collins told www.irish-boxing.com.
“The fight was about to be officially announced but it isn’t going to happen now. We were in training for the last few weeks for that fight. I watched Mitchell versus Murray and I saw things Stephen could exploit. We wanted that fight and I know Stephen would have beaten him. We even accepted the fight for very little money just to get Stephen in the ring with Kevin. Stephen is fighting at super feather and was moving to lightweight that is how confident he was.”
The Rock’ was understandably upset at the news, but Collins stressed there big things on the boxing horizon for the undefeated 28 year old.
Frank Warren is said to have a big announcement regarding Ormond in the next few weeks.
“It was a big fight that got away, but we are still in training and Frank has promised him something big soon. Expect an big announcement over the next few weeks. Stephen has worked hard and he is on the verge of big things.”
