Rematch revenge for Stephen Ormond

Stephen Ormond banished the demons of the only knockout defeat of his career tonight with a competitive win over dangerous Hungarian Zoltan Szabo.

The Clondalkin fighter took on the Magyar puncher at the Paisley Lagoon Leisure Centre on the outskirts of Glasgow and took an eight-round points win.

Ormond had been stopped by the same opponent, also in Scotland, back in October and, after a quick comeback win in Belfast, he was able to avenge this defeat following a tough fight.

Szabo started well and was notably focusing on the body, but Ormond would soon take the upper hand. A quieter second saw the Dubliner take a more considered approach initially, and he would land some eye-catching shots, but the Hungarian continued to look threatening.

The third was similarly competitive, and it seemed as though 33 year old Ormond was taking a purposefully more tentative approach than usual. The pair traded in the fourth and ‘The Rock’ saw his knees momentarily buckle after taking a straight left counter, and Szabo would start to press forward.

The Central European seemed to grow in confidence as the fight entered its second half. The Celtic Warriors Gym fighter was the busier during the stanza, but Szabo was still continuing to land dangerous and hurtful-looking shots.

After a few sticky rounds against ‘The Sticky Man,’ Ormond had a good sixth stanza, getting inside and landing some solid flurries. Ormond then began to take some control in the penultimate round, massively outlanding the increasingly cagey Szabo.

Szabo came out strong in the final round, and was in control, although the eye-catching flurry of the closer came from the Irishman who rounded out the bout with some showboating.

Going to the cards after a competitive fight, Ormond was awarded the victory on a slightly wide scoreline of 79:74.

The morale-boosting win sees Ormond move to 23(12)-3(1), while the game Szabo falls to 12(6)-3(1).

Photo Credit: Ricardo Guglielminotti – The Fighting Irish (@ThefIrish)