Stephen Ormond takes pride in performance versus Paul Hyland Jr

Sky pundits scratched their heads, Twitter cried foul, his team were disgusted, his fans distraught, but as ever Stephen Ormond found a bright side to look on.

‘The Rock’ had just lost a controversial split-decision against Paul Hyland Jr at a packed SSE Odyssey Arena in Belfast to confirm his status as one of the unluckiest Irish boxers to ever lace up the gloves.

However, rather than kick up a major fuss after a result which some close to him argued may have cost him his career, the 34 year old was as calm as ever and managed to find a positive.

The Paschal Collins-trained fighter was happy he recovered from a third round knockdown and that he finally got to show the Sky Sports boxing viewers what he was about before he retires.

Ormond had for years wanted to fight on the channel, confident that once a wider boxing audience got to see him in action that bouts with the likes of Anthony Crolla, Ricky Burns, and Kevin Mitchell might become attainable.

While he may not be the same fighter that defeated Derry Mathews in Liverpool back in 2013, Ormond proved on Saturday night that there is life in the old dog yet.

The Clondalkin man told Irish-Boxing.com afterwards: “Look what I take out of tonight is: I was on Sky and I performed well on Sky. After all those years I got on Sky and I am glad I performed the way I did. ”

“I really enjoyed it in there. The shimmy-shammy was back and I think the last time I had that was when I fought Derry Matthews. Everyone that was in the dressing room today noticed the difference was the lack of pressure.”

“I just went to enjoy it like I used to. I didn’t put any pressure on myself. Everyone thought I was finished going into this one. I did want to prove them wrong, but there was no pressure.”

While Ormond was in high spirits following the bout, that does not mean he agreed with the decision – and neither did Matchroom boss Eddie Hearn.

Ormond explained how “Eddie told me he thought he I won the fight. He said it to me and Paul. Look it’s nothing to do with Paul Hyland, he wasn’t judging and he is a good fighter, but I thought I won.”

“He caught me with a good shot in fairness to him, but I got up and from there on I thought I started breaking him down.”

“I though I broke him down. he was moving nice on his feet, but he wasn’t doing much apart from that at the end of the fight. I was letting him move and I was happy catching the one or two he would throw and then landing. Look it’s nothing to do with Paul and I have respect for him he is a good fighter.”

The impression had always been that, had he got the win, it may have been a ‘riding off into the sunset’ result for Ormond.

Now though the Celtic Warriors boxer looks likely to box on.

A Hyland v Ormond rematch has instantly become the number one all-Irish fight which fans want to see, and the Dublin veteran admits that any subsequent bouts for him will need to be notable match-ups.

“I think I will only fight in big fights,” mused Ormond.

“Before this fight I said I don’t know what I will do. I think fighting on and retiring were options. I don’t know to be honest. I will take a break now and see. I think I would only fight on in big fights though.”