By Charles Brun: Bob Arum plans on matching Carl Frampton against WBO super featherweight champion Jamel Herring in November in the U.S if the two of them win their interim fights. Frampton is in action this Saturday night against Darren Traynor (16-3, 7 KOs) in a 10-round tune-up fight at the BT Sport Studio, Stratford, in London, England.

Herring (21-2, 10 KOs) has to get past 37-year-old fringe contender Jonathan Oquendo (31-6, 19 KOs) on September 5 for him and Carl to meet up in November.

Frampton wants to become a third-division world champion

Before the pandemic hit, Frampton was supposed to challenge Herring for his WBO belt in June. Those plans were scrapped. So now Arum is hoping to reschedule the match in November as long as Herring and Frampton win their preliminary fights, which shouldn’t be hard for them to do given the quality of their opposition.

Carl wants to win his third division world title, and WBO 130-lb belt-holder Herring gives him his best shot of making that happen. Frampton matches up well against the 34-year-old Herring, and its a contest that he’ll have a better than average chance of winning.

If Frampton were to challenge IBF champion Joseph Diaz, WBA champ Leo Santa Cruz, or WBC belt-holder Miguel Berchelt, he would have significant problems.

Herring is easily the weakest link among the champions at super featherweight, and Frampton should have an excellent shot at accomplishing his goal of winning a third division world title.

Carl attempted to win the IBF featherweight title from Josh Warrington in 2018 but came up short in losing a 12 2orund decision.

Frampton, 33, hasn’t beaten anyone to be given a title shot at super-featherweight. The former two-division world champion Frampton recently moved up to 130 and beat prospect Tyler McCreary by a 10 round decision last November in Las Vegas. This Saturday, Frampton will be fighting for the second time at super-featherweight against another second-tier fighter in 33-year-old Traynor.

Ideally, #8 WBO Frampton should have to #1 WBO contender Shakur Stevenson or #2 Oscar Valdez before fighting for a world title against Herring, but he’s being given the title shot based on what he’s done in the past.

Jamel must beat Oquendo

Herring, 34, shouldn’t have any problems beating #12 WBO Oquendo, but you never know. He didn’t look good in his last fight in defeating Lamont Roach last November in Fresno, California. Roach had Herring buzzed at one point in the contest, on the verge f being knocked out.

“Jamel Herring will defend his title against Oquendo [on September 5,” said Arum in a recent news conference. “If Jamel is successful and if Carl is successful on Saturday, I have a date picked out in November where they will fight for the title. That’s done. Everybody is on board.”

“One thing I can’t control is the virus, but we’re going to do that fight in November. It may very well be another bubble fight – in other words, with no fans and we’ll have to get Carl over to the States to do it,” said Arum.

Frampton wants the WBO title, and it’s likely less critical whether the match take place in front of boxing fans are not. With Frampton just the challenger, he’s not in the position to drag Herring over to the UK for him to defend his WBO title.

The situation with the crowd would be the same in England or Ireland as it would be for it to take place anywhere else.

The ex-Marine Herring captured the WBO 130-lb title last year in May in defeating Masayuki Ito by a 12-round unanimous decision. In Herring’s first defense of his WBO belt, he defeated Lamont Roach by a tougher than expected 12 round decision last November in Fresno, California.

Does Frampton have enough left to beat Herring?

That performance by Herring showed that he’s not going to be able to hold onto his WBO title for very much longer unless he raises his game. Frampton might still have enough in the tank to beat Herring, but we’ll have to see.

As far as Frampton goes, if he loses to Herring in November, it could be the end of the line for him in terms of winning another world title. Carl can’t go back won to 126 because he’s too heavy, and he would likely be over-matched against the other champion at 130.

If Frampton could still fight at 122, he’d have an excellent chance of winning a title in that weight class, as his power and boxing skills would put him near the head of the division.