Ormond Decisions Jimenez In Boston On St. Patty’s

The House of Blues in Boston, Massachusetts hosted Murphy´s Boxing as they produced a card headlined by Ireland´s Stephen Ormond (20-2) who opposed Marcos Jimenez (21-6) for the vacant IBF Inter-Continental Lightweight belt. That it was Saint Patrick´s day weekend was not lost on the lively crowd that was there to support Ormond.

This fight continues Ormond´s build up since his disastrous February of 2015 European title bout with Terry Flanagan that saw him disqualified for butting heads after he was warned throughout. That bout was the fourth defense of the European belt for Ormond, and he was behind on the judges cards had the fight gone the distance. Since then, Ormond had fought three bouts of eight rounds, earning stoppages in all three.

This match with Jimenez was over a ten round distance, and though Ormond outworked and outlcassed the veteran Jimenez throughout, he was unable to get the stoppage. Ormond cruised to a unanimous decision to take home the belt.

The match could put Ormond one step closer to a showdown with undefeated Rances Barthelemy, who recently captured the IBF World title. Ormond is also lobbying for a re-match with Flanagan, who parlayed his win over Ormond into a world title shot and is now the WBO Lightweight World Champion at 30-0. Ormond however, still likely has some work to do to mend his image after the headbutt DQ against Flanagan. Ormond is due a step up in competition, as his best win comes over British veteran Derry Mathews (38-10-2). Besides Flanagan, he also lost to Paul Appleby back in March of 2012 in a fight for a regional Super Featherweight belt.

It is an interesting side note that Murphy´s Boxing is owned by Ken Casey, who is also the singer and bassist of hard rock band Dropkick Murphy's.

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