Carl Frampton: “I will retire if I lose this fight” to Jamel Herring

By Boxing News - 03/30/2021 - Comments

By Charles Brun: Carl ‘The Jackal’ Frampton says he’ll be retiring if he loses his fight on April 3rd against WBO super featherweight champion Jamel Herring at the Caesars Palace Dubai, in Dubai.

This is a toss-up fight, so there’s a good chance that Frampton’s career could be kaput next week if he’s serious about having up the gloves if he loses.

The 34-year-old Frampton (28-2, 16 KOs) is attempting to before Ireland’s first three-division world champion, and he’s arguably picking the weakest link along the 130-lb champions to try and accomplish that task.

If Frampton loses to the 35-year-old American Herring (22-2, 10 KOs), it would effectively be the end of the line for him regardless of becoming a three-division world champion.

To go in another direction to scrap for another belt at 130 would mean that Frampton would need to fight these guys:

Image: Carl Frampton: "I will retire if I lose this fight" to Jamel Herring

  • Oscar Valdez – WBC
  • Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis – WBA Super World
  • Roger Gutierrez – WBA World [aka regular]
  • Shavkat Rakhimov – vacant IBF

“Frampton tells me and @pugboxing, ‘I will retire if I lose this fight, that’s a fact. If I lose this fight, I’m done, hand on my heart.’ Frampton looks to become the first three-division champ from Ireland vs. [WBO super featherweight champion] Jamel’Herring on April 3 in Dubai,” said @MikeCoppinger.

It’s not a good sign that Frampton is talking retirement now if he loses. When you get someone talking about retirement, it tells you that they’re not committed.

It’s believe that even if Frampton wins this fight, he’ll be retiring after he defends the WBO title against #1 Shakur Stevenson, as that’s a match that Carl will likely lose badly. So even if Frampton doesn’t retire after his April 3rd fight with Herring, he’ll likely be retiring anyway soon enough.

Nowadays, fighters say they’re retiring all the time, and it generally means they’re going on a long holiday before returning to the ring in one to five years.

That’s why it’s difficult to take Frampton seriously with his retirement talk, but if he does choose to walk away permanently, you can’t blame him.

Frampton was badly outworked by former IBF featherweight champion Josh Warrington in his 12 round unanimous decision defeat in December 2018.

Since then, Frampton has bounced back with wins over lower level fighters Tyler McCreary and Darren Traynor. Carl looked good in winning those fights, but he wasn’t facing high caliber opposition or anywhere near.

Next week, Frampton will have a tough task ahead of him against the much taller 5’10” Herring, and it’s going to be a hard fight for Carl.

Image: Carl Frampton: "I will retire if I lose this fight" to Jamel Herring

Herring is quality guy, but there’s arguably nine better fighters in the 130-lb division than him. He’s what you call a ‘paper champion’ and not the main guy or even the second or third best at super featherweight.

Frampton hasn’t looked like the same guy that he once was since moving out of the 122-lb division.