Dublin lightweight Steve Ormond (4-0, 1 KO) will return to the ring on July 18 at the Plattduetsche Park Restaurant, Franklin Square, Long Island in a six round contest on an outdoor Ring Promotions card against Puerto Rican Israel Suarez (1-1).

Ormond was impressive in his last fight when he won a unanimous decision over tough Georgian Sergi Ganjelashvili (4-3-1) at the Westbury Music Fair in Long Island on June 5.

The fight will be a test of Ormond’s stamina, as fighting outdoors for any Irishman in the summer sun is a challenging task (just ask Barry McGuigan, who lost his world featherweight title to the outdoor heat of Las Vegas as much as he did to Steve Cruz on June 23, 1985).

However, the Clondalkin native and trainer Pete Brodsky have no worries about fighting outside, and Brodsky is happy with how Ormond is developing.

“He (Suarez) is 1-1, but he is a decent fighter and will be good opposition for Steve, who is improving every day and is getting a lot of good boxing,” Brodsky told the Irish Voice on Tuesday.

“Basically we are looking at more developmental fights for Steve,” said Brodsky, who added that it was important that Ormond get more pro rounds under his belt, and that his win over Ganjelashvili a few weeks back was a great win over a very tough pro early in the Dubliner’s career.

Ormond has fought outside in outdoor summer time conditions as an amateur and does not have any qualms about fighting under the sun.

“I've actually fought in hotter gyms,’ said the 26-year-old, who added that plenty of people were asking him when he was fighting next and he looks forward to attracting more fans with his all-action style.

For more information about the card, visit www.ringpromotions.com.

In other news, middleweight John Duddy (26-1) returned to New York on Saturday and is working on his conditioning in a gym in Queens while he and advisor Craig Hamilton mull over offers received for his next fight. 

As previously reported, Irish light middleweight champion Neil Sinclair (32-7) has made overtures to the Derry man to fight for his newly acquired title. Peter Manfredo Jr (32-6) has also talked up his desire to have an Italian-Irish showdown at some stage, so it will be interesting to see what pans out next for the Derry Destroyer.

Light middleweight James Moore (17-2) is also staying in shape as he plots his next move after taking care of Joseph de Los Santos in early May.

Super middleweight Darren Sutherland (3-0) was in action Tuesday, but as we went to press the Beijing Olympic bronze medalist had not entered the ring. 

 The 26-year-old was taking on Gennadiy Rasalev (2-1) in a fight scheduled for six rounds. If Sutherland emerges victorious and unscathed, then he will be back in the ring in ten days time when he is slated to fight in Sunderland on July 10.

Irish-American light welterweight Danny O’Connor (7-0) had no problems making it seven straight wins on the trot as a pro when he defeated Sebastien Hamel (10-20-1) at the Roxy in Boston, taking the win by 60-54 on all three judges’ cards.

In amateur news, Katie Taylor continued her amazing run of success by winning the EU lightweight title in Bulgaria last Saturday when she defeated the host nation’s Denitza Eliseevan 8-1 in the final.

On July 2, two Hyland Brothers will fight two Herrera brothers from Colombia on the same card at the National Basketball Arena in Dublin.

Undefeated Patrick Hyland (16-0) will fight Hevinson Herrera (14-4) for the vacant IBF International featherweight title in a contest scheduled for 12 rounds, while (12-1) Eddie Hyland will fight Yogli Herrera (22-8) for the vacant IBF international super featherweight title in a fight also scheduled for twelve.

Featherweight Paul Hyland (14-1) will also feature on the card, opponent TBA, as will Gary O’Sullivan, Declan Timlin and Jamie Power.