By Kenneth Friedman: Top Rank promoter Bob Arum says he’s hoping to match Jamel Herring against Carl Frampton in the fourth quarter of 2020 as long as both fighters when their next contests.
Arum will be rescheduling WBO super featherweight champion Herring’s title defense against Jonathan Oquendo (31-6, 19 KOs) in August. Herring, 34, was supposed to defend his WBO title against Oquendo, 36, tonight, but unfortunately, the ex-Marine tested positive for COVID-19.
Rather than cancel the contest altogether, Arum decided to reschedule it for August. It’s a glorified stay-busy fight for Herring, as Oquendo is a fringe contender, who has seen better days.
You can’t rule out an upset, though, because Herring is a flawed champion. Some fans see Herring as the weakest link among the belt-holders at 130.
Herring and Frampton need to win next fights
Additionally, Frampton (27-2, 15 KOs) will be fighting in August as well. Frampton will be competing on August 15 on the same card as Michael Conlan in the UK.
If both Frampton, 33, and Herring (21-2, 10 KOs) win their fights next month, then Arum will schedule them to fight in late 2020. Arum isn’t saying who the former two-division world champion Frampton will be competing against on August 15.
Given that there’s only a month to go, it’s not likely that Frampton will face anyone too harsh. He hasn’t fought since beating Tyler McCreary by a 10 round unanimous decision last November in his debut at super featherweight.
Frampton is ranked #6 by the World Boxing Organization at 130, but Arum’s Top Rank company promotes him. Otherwise, he likely wouldn’t be under consideration for Herring’s next contest.
Before that, Frampton was beaten by IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington by a 12 round decision in December 2018. Warrington dominated Frampton, making him look old and past it. Afterward, Frampton blamed the loss on him being weight drained from struggling to make the 126-lb limit.
We were greatly saddened when @JamelHerring tested positive for COVID-19.
We expect not only him back in the ring in August, but also @RealCFrampton. If they’re both victorious, we will attempt to match them against each other in the fourth quarter of 2020. pic.twitter.com/oFjoYM6j4G
— Bob Arum (@BobArum) July 14, 2020
Jamel can’t let his weight get out of control
Herring can’t afford to have any slip-ups against Oquendo for him to meet up with Frampton in the fall. Frampton has less to worry about for his August fight because he’s very likely to be matched against a 2nd tier fighter.
Herring need to make sure that he can make weight for his fight next month against Oquendo. With Herring testing positive for COVID-19, he’s going to need to train on his own until he’s ready to resume preparing for the Oquendo fight.
Herring’s adviser Jerry Casarez says he’ll be back in the gym in late July to get ready for the Oquendo. Jamel has got to make sure that his weight doesn’t get out of hand in the next two weeks before he returns to camp to finish up before facing Oquendo next month.