Jamel Herring defends against Carl Frampton on June 13 in Belfast

By Boxing News - 03/10/2020 - Comments

By Tim Royner: Carl Frampton will be challenging WBO super featherweight champion Jamel Herring on June 13th at a yet to be determined venue in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Frampton’s promoter Frank Warren confirmed on Tuesday that Frampton (27-2, 15 KOs) will be facing Herring (21-2, 10 KOs), and he says it’s 100% happening.

Warren is still working on the venue for the fight, according to BT Sport Boxing.

You’ve got to give credit to WBO champion Herring, who will be traveling from his home country of the United States to fight in Frampton’s backyard on June 13th, and he’ll be out there all by himself with just his team as his support group.

Frampton looked good in his last fight in beating Tyler McCreary (16-1-1, 7 KOs) by a 10 round unanimous decision last November in Las Vegas.

Warren confirms Frampton facing Herring on June 13

“It’ll take place on June 13th in Belfast. We’re sorting out the venue at the moment, but that will definitely happen on the 13th of June, 100 percent,” said promoter Frank Warren to BT Sport Boxing on the Frampton vs. Herring fight.

Frampton, 5’5″, will be giving up 5 inches in height and 8 inches in reach to the 5’10” Herring, and that could be tough on him. This will be the tallest opponent Frampton has faced in his 11-year professional career, and he’s going to need to figure out how to close the distance on Herring to land his shots. If Herring is able to keep Frampton on the outside all night, he’ll win an easy decision.

Frampton, 33, will be looking to become the first boxer from Northern Ireland to become a three-division world champion, and put himself as one of the best fighters ever from there. That would be a big accomplishment for Carl.

In 2016, Frampton became the first fighter from Northern Ireland to become a two-division world champion when he beat WBA featherweight champion, Leo Santa Cruz, by a 12 round majority decision.

In the rematch in January 2017, Santa Cruz defeated Frampton by a 12 round majority decision in Las Vegas, Nevada. Since that loss, Frampton’s career hasn’t been the same.

Frampton hasn’t been able to recapture another world title in the last 3 years. In December 2018, Frampton came up short in losing a 12 round decision to IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington.

Frampton with an excellent chance of defeating Herring 

“It’ll be the first time an Irish man fought in three weights to try and win it, and I think he’s got an excellent opportunity and chance of being the first one to do that and looking for him to do that,” said Warren of Frampton hoping to win his third division world title.

Herring is arguably the weakest of the champions at 130 right now, and if Frampton can’t beat him, he might be out of luck.

The other champions at super featherweight:

  • Miguel Berchelt – WBC
  • Leo Santa Cruz – WBA
  • Joseph ‘Jo Jo’ Diaz – IBF

Berchelt would be a really bad match-up for Frampton, and hopefully, he doesn’t face that guy. Berchelt is perhaps the best of the belt-holders at super featherweight right now, and Diaz might be the second-best. Vasiliy Lomachenko is expected to return to the 130-lb division in 2021 if he’s successful in defeating IBF lightweight belt holder Teofimo Lopez in May to unify the 135-lb division.

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Frampton fancies the job against Herring

“It’s very important for us to get it on, and we’ve done that,” said Warren on making the fight between Herring and Frampton. “Carl is a great boxer and he’s done well in this game, and he really does fancy this job against Herring,” said Warren.

Frampton will need to have a better engine than what he showed in his loss to Warrington in 2018. Warrington, Santa Cruz, and Scott Quigg all showed that Frampton can be done in by steady and unrelenting pressure.

Frampton also struggles when dealing with fighters who stay on the outside jabbing him, and Herring is someone who will likely that approach first. Horacio Garcia, Santa Cruz, Quigg, and Nonito Donaire have Frampton headaches by using pressure and hitting him hard. Frampton’s 10 round decision win over Garcia in 2017 was controversial, and a lot of boxing fans thought he deserved a loss in that fight.

Even more, fans thought Frampton lost his first fight with Santa Cruz in July 2016. The fight took place in front of a large pro-Frampton crowd in Brooklyn, New York. Although Santa Cruz was technically the American for that fight, the large crowd that showed up for the contest in Brooklyn were Frampton supporters. Someone from Santa Cruz’s team made a blunder in failing to understand what the crowd would be like in staging the contest in New York rather than on the West coast.

Warren: Frampton will have the fans behind him

“He’ll get the home fans behind him, and come away with the prize. It’s a fantastic atmosphere [fighting in Belfast],” Warren said about Frampton having the fans on his side for the Herring fight. “In his last one, it rained and it didn’t bother anybody, did it? I’m looking forward to it, and he’s out on June the 13th,” said Warren.

Frampton is a better fighter when he’s NOT at him, seeing that he’s more careful when he’s on the road, and not please the crowd as much. Herring has a KO percentage of 43.48%, so he’s not a big knockout threat that Frampton has to worry about.

Herring will need to use his height and reach to keep Frampton on the outside, and that’s going to be hard. Frampton likes to charge forward when attacking his opponents.

He’s able to move quickly into punching range to land shots and then escape to the outside before getting hit. Herring will need to try and time Frampton’s attacks to nail him with shots since he’s probably not going to be able to back away fast enough to keep him off.

Herring didn’t look that great in his last fight in defeating Lamont Roach by a 12 round unanimous decision last November. Roach staggered Herring bad in the 11th, but he wasn’t able to take advantage of it.