Carl Frampton to challenge Jamel Herring for world title in Belfast

As was noted yesterday, Queensberry Promotions slipped some encouraging news into a release about a couple of postponed events, announcing that they had come to a deal with Top Rank for Carl Frampton to challenge WBO junior lightweight titleholder Jamel Herring this spring.

The fight was meant to be officially announced this week, but obviously there’s only so much you can announce at this point. The Herring-Frampton fight had been planned from last fall, and the two met in the ring on Nov. 30 after Frampton beat Tyler McCreary in Las Vegas.

Now we know that the fight is, as rumored, headed to Belfast, whenever it gets made. The early working date is June 13.

Frampton (27-2, 15 KO), a former titleholder at junior featherweight and featherweight, is delighted to host Herring (21-2, 10 KO) in his home city.

“This is huge. To be the challenger fighting for a world title at home is just great,” he said. “When it was first talked about and hinted at after I’d beaten Tyler McCreary in my last fight, I didn’t imagine it’d be in Belfast!

“I’m delighted to be fighting in my city and hopefully once the coronavirus madness has all passed, we can get it sealed and have the fight.”

Frampton, 33, stresses that he’s not expecting to rush into things, given the state of affairs across the world right now.

“It’s good to have a small bit of good news with this fight being agreed, but there are more important things than boxing. People’s health is more important than me and Herring having a fight so it’s important we do this right.”

Frampton had his last world title fight in Dec. 2018, going to Manchester and dropping a clear decision to IBF featherweight titleholder Josh Warrington, a result that was a minor upset at the time. In 2019, he signed a co-promotional deal with Top Rank, but had his debut with the company delayed due to a freak accident that left him with an injured hand, and he also had some hand issues after the win over McCreary.

Herring, 34, is a former U.S. Olympian who suffered a pair of losses as a lightweight and seemed to have a clear ceiling as a fringe contender, but in 2018 he moved down to 130 pounds, hooked up with trainer Brian McIntyre, and took the WBO title from Masayuki Ito in May 2019. He successfully defended it on Nov. 9, beating challenger Lamont Roach Jr.