By Tim Royner: Carl’ The Jackal’ Frampton will be looking to become a third-division world champion in late summer or the autumn in Belfast when he challenges WBO super featherweight champion Jamel Herring for his title.

Frampton’s promoter Frank Warren states that they wanted to have the Herring fight take place in June initially, but they’re now moving it to the summer or beyond in 2020.

The 33-year-old Frampton looked good in moving up to the super featherweight division [130] last November in beating Tyler McCreary (16-1-1, 7 KOs) by a one-sided 10 round unanimous decision in Las Vegas.

This is a big step up for Frampton in taking on world champion Herring in just his second fight at 130, but he’s facing the right guy.

Frampton vs. Herring to be rescheduled

McCreary isn’t in the same talent class as the 34-year-old Herring (21-2, 10 KOs), though, so it’s hard to say whether Frampton will be able to duplicate that success when he challenges for the WBO title.

“We were looking for June, but that is not going to happen,” Warren said to the Standard Sport. “We will look to get it on for late summer or the early autumn now.”

Frampton missed a lot of time in 2019 due to an accident. A pillar at a hotel fell over and broke both of his hands last August. He’d been scheduled to fight featherweight journeyman Emmanuel Dominguez (26-9-2, 18 KOs0 in a 10 round fight.

Although the opponent for Frampton wasn’t a good one, the time that he lost due to the injury was disappointing. Frampton was supposed to be making his debut with his new promoters at Top Rank. McCreary was arguably an upgrade from Dominquez.

The former Marine Herring defeated Masayuki Ito by a 12 round unanimous decision last May to capture the WBO 130-lb title. In Herring’s first defense, he defeated Lamont Roach Jr. by a grueling 12 round unanimous decision last November.

The Roach Jr. battle proved to be a tough one for Herring, as he was rocked late in the bout, and he barely was able to hold on to win the decision. It wasn’t pretty, but Herring retained his WBO title.

Frampton and his management know what they’re doing in targeting Herring for his WBO super featherweight. Of the champions at 130, Herring is arguably the weakest link among them, and perhaps the only one that Frampton would have a chance of beating.

These are the other champions at super featherweight

Miguel Berchelt – WBC
Leo Santa Cruz – WBA
Rene Alvarado – WBA
Joseph Diaz Jr. – IBF

Carl confident he’s fighting Herring next

“I’m pretty sure my next opponent will be Jamel Herring,” said Frampton to Seconds Out. “I boxed more recently than him, and I’m younger than him. I don’t think the fight is going to happen anytime in the near future. If it doesn’t happen by early September, which allows you to go outdoors.

“Whether it even happens here, that’s another [thing],” said Frampton. “We may ease the restrictions here a little bit, but it’s still in place in America, which doesn’t suit Jamel with the travel. We just have to wait. To be fighting for a world title after losing to Josh Warrington, I want to thank MTK for getting me in that position. I’m just waiting and biding my time like everyone else.

“I guess I’m in the position where I lose to Warrington, and I’m still in a position to fight for a world title due to my popularity,” Frampton said. “That may sound harsh to some, but that’s the way it is in boxing. It took me a while, though, after the Santa Cruz fight. I think I’m due a little bit of luck at this point.

“I think he’s a good fighter. I’ve been using this time to study him a fair amount,” said Frampton about Herring. “That’s something I normally don’t do is study fighters that much. I’ve been watching him a little bit, but I’ve been watching him a little bit more. He’s a good fighter, he’s very tall, and he’s a nice boxer,” said Frampton.

This is going to be a difficult fight for Frampton to take. Herring has a lot of size and talent, and he’s every bit as good as Josh Warrington. We saw what happened to Frampton in the Warrington fight. He got worn down by the younger fighter and beaten by a 12 round decision.

Frampton will need to overcome Herring’s size

“His six-inch height advantage inside the ring will present another set of problems,” Frampton said of Herring. “He doesn’t have the fastest feet in the world, he doesn’t punch that fast, and there are times in fights where he likes to cruise. So he doesn’t like to exert himself if he doesn’t have to. I think that comes down to the weight issues. I think he really struggles to make the weight because he’s so big.

But he’s got a good boxing brain as well, and he’s very mentally strong. There’s no such thing as a perfect fighter, and I believe there are ways to beat him. I think pressure is OK, and I don’t mind being under a bit of pressure. But the incentive is to go down in history to become the only three belt world champion from Ireland is huge.

“That’s something that I think about a lot. I think you’re knocking on the doors of the Hall of Fame if you become a three-weight world champion. So these are all things that I’m looking for,” said Frampton.

It’s not going to be easy for the 5’5′ Frampton to close the distance on the 5’10” southpaw Herring to land his shots without getting tagged. That’s the problem that Frampton will have in moving up in weight to 130. Frampton’s recent fight against McCreary didn’t prepare him for what he’s going to be dealing with when he gets inside the ring with Herring. There’s a big difference in talent between Herring and McCreary.

Frampton will need to use fast attacks to get in and then retreat to the outside to keep Herring from hitting him consistently.