Reinvigorated Stephen Ormond calls out new World Champion

A new world champion was crowned last night and already has an Irish fighter calling his name.

Puerto Rican Jose Pedraza [25(12)-1(1)] dethroned WBO lightweight champ Ray Beltran last night and Dublin’s Stephen Ormond [26(13)-5(1)] wants a piece of the new beltholder.

Clondalkin cyclone Ormond edged WBO #14 George Ashie on Friday night in Glasgow and is now expected to enter the rankings in the next update.

The 35-year-old wants to go straight into a title shot with the new beltholder and has called the former IBF super featherweight champ out in no uncertain terms.

Mere hours after the Caribbean boxer dropped and outpointed Beltran in Arizona, Ormond declared that “Pedraza is a champion and I want to fight him.”

“Congratulations to him on his new belt but don’t get too comfortable in it because I’m coming for it.”

“I’ve seen Pedraza fight a bit. Now he’s a double world champion so he’s definitely good but I don’t fear him.”

Pedraza does look to be being lined up for WBA champion Vasyl Lomachenko in California at the start of December but Ormond is hopeful he can be enticed over to this side of the Atlantic.

“The sooner the better for me,” he stated. “It makes sense for these champions to come out here and fight but I don’t mind where it happens.”

“I’ve no fear of any of these champions. I’m just excited to get out there and fight again as soon as possible. I’m eager.

The Celtic Warriors man is riding on the crest of a wave following his one-point win over Ashie at the Emirates Arena, live on BoxNation.

Following a strong start, Ormond overcame a knockdown in the eighth and finished strong to take a 95-94 win.

His biggest win in years, ‘The Rock’ believes it has catapulted him back into contention.

Ormond outlined how “I’ve got the ranking now and I want a world title shot.”

“I knew Ashie was dangerous and one to watch out for. I knew he was strong after the first round and he caught me.”

“That guy was chasing the world champions and tried to use me as a stepping stone. I’ve used him as a stepping stone.”

“That guy is ranked. I want them fights. He had a great record, he’s from Ghana, Accra, he’s a good guy.”

Rankings-wise it was important but mentally the in also gave Ormond a huge boost.

The determined Dubliner admitted that “I had a lot of things in my mind that I had to get out there. I was hungry for it, you’d have had to shoot me in there to stop me, that’s how I felt.”

“I want a shot, it’s a long time coming and I’m not giving up.”