Manchester star Terry Flanagan earned his shot at the WBO World Lightweight title with a victory over Stephen Ormond tonight at the Wolverhampton Civic Hall, after the Irishman was sensationally disqualified in the tenth round for excessive use of the head.
It was a thrilling and absorbing encounter between the rival 135-pounders from the opening bell with plenty of hard shots coming in from both men. Flanagan, coming into the fight as the undefeated British Champion, showed the sharper skills, while Ormond, the defending WBO European Champion, preferred to trade and try to land the harder shots.
In the ninth round Ormond was deducted a point by the referee for using his head and then warned two further times. Then in the next round Ormond again used his head on Flanagan and the referee this time stepped in to wave the fight off, ruling excessive use of the head.
With current WBO World Lightweight Champion Terrance Crawford expected to vacate the belt shortly and move up to campaign in the light-welterweight division, Flanagan will now have to wait to find who he will fight for the title out of the number one ranked American Juan Diaz and Japan’s number two ranked Takahiro Ao who meet in a WBO ordered Eliminator.
Unbeaten Flanagan took his record to 27-0 and adds the WBO European crown to his resume, but he’s thrilled to be now fighting for the WBO World title.
He said, “It was hard in there, Ormond is a tough, tough, fighter, but I had to overcome a fighter like him before I know that I’m ready for the world title. He probably got frustrated in there because I was getting on top with my punches and he used his head. It was a heat of the moment thing, but until the referee stepped in it was a thrilling fight for the fans and I’m over the moon to be now fighting for the world title.”
