Shipping out to Boston

STEPHEN “The Rock” Ormond has rolled to the States to fight on a major show in Boston this Saturday night.
Ormond, along with Tallaght fighter Patrick Hyland, will fight on the card of The Rematch between Danny “Bhoy” O’Connor and Gabe Bracero at Lowell Memorial Auditorium.
The Rock will face 42-year-old American veteran Michael Clarke on Saturday in what is his first fight since signing on with Boston organisation Murphy’s Boxing. The Premier Boxing Champions (PBC) show will be televised live on NBC.
It’s been announced that Ormond plans to remain stateside for a number of weeks and could fight again in October in order to build a profile to the large audience the fight nights organised by Murphy’s attracts stateside and in particular Boston.
Speaking to Irish-Boxing.com before jetting to America, the Neilstown man spoke about his upcoming plans.
“I’ll be fighting Saturday in Boston, and then the plan is to stay out there for a week or two in Miami and then fight again before coming home.
“Once there are no injuries I’ll have the two fights quite quickly, which shows why this move is such a good one,” said the Rock.
Ormond had previously boxed under Frank Warren but many feel the Dubliner was used by Warren as an opponent so some of his other fighters could climb their respective ladders. Always respectful when speaking in public, Ormond had no issue by speaking his mind about Warren.
“I didn’t get looked after properly in the past, I didn’t get looked after at all but at least with Murphy’s I know I’ll be looked after,” he said. “They want the best for you. They’re 100% behind me and they want to push me, not for fighters to use me as a stepping stone.”
It seems to be an exciting time all round for Ormond, with rumours all but confirmed that he has signed a deal with boxing godfather Al Haymon. The adviser has worked alongside some of the sport’s biggest names in recent times, such as Floyd Mayweather, Amir Khan, Carl Frampton and many more.
On the Haymon rumours, Ormond was quite coy. “There are a couple of things up in the air,” said the 32-year-old.
“I don’t want to say too much at the moment as I’m focused on these but there could be a couple of exciting things coming up. He has two or three world champions at my weight, but I can fight at light-welterweight too as well as lightweight.”
Finally, since this Saturday brings his first fight on US television, and PBC shows, which are organised by Haymon, known to attract millions of viewers in the past, Ormond was asked if he was nervous going into the bout. “No, I’m just going to do what I do. The more relaxed you are in the ring the better.”