Already Delayed Herring-Frampton Title Bout Off Again

Whether it’s been Covid 19, the wait to get some fans to attend, or location with date settled, the anticipated Jamel Herring-Carl Frampton WBO Jr. Lightweight World Title battle has never materialized. And, there’s now yet another delay.

Adam Abramomitz of SaturdayNightFights.com was the first to report Tuesday afternoon that Frampton has an injury and the bout will be pushed back likely at least a month,

Source: Herring-Frampton is postponed due to a Frampton hand injury. They are looking at March for a rescheduled date. Expect an official announcement later this week.

— adam abramowitz (@snboxing) February 16, 2021

It’s unclear if this is the same Frampton hand that was fractured previously, when the former two division world champ suffered from a freak accident in a Philadelphia hotel lobby. Frampton was to have fought Emmanuel Dominguez in the main event of Top Rank’s show in August of 2019.

However, a worker bumped into a small heavy pillar that toppled over onto Frampton’s left-hand, fracturing it. The accident sidelined him for over a month, before he returned to win a unanimous decision over Tyler McCreary later in Las Vegas in November of that year.

Frampton waited with everyone through the Covid 19 shutdown of the sport last Spring and was finally back in the ring scoring an easy TKO against little known Darren Traynor in an empty TV studio in London last August.

That tune-up bout was to have him ready for Herring for late last year or the beginning of this year.

However, Herring contracted Covid 19 in August and it delayed his title defense with little known journeyman Jonathan Oquendo for several weeks. Herring eventually won a sloppy DQ, as Oquendo was more interested in mauling and fouling him.

The 35 year old former two tour of duty Marine Herring is now 22-2 and had been set to make the third defense of his WBO title.

There was some haggling for over two months on whether the Frampton fight would be in the U.S. or in his home country of Ireland. And, would there be at least some fans, socially distanced for a live gate?

It had been settled that the bout was to have been February 27th at the BT Sport TV Studios in London without fans present.

There has been some belief that Herring might retire after the proposed Frampton fight. However, one compelling counterpoint to possible retirement is Herring is about to make the most money that he has ever garnered in his professional career for this battle against the former two-division world champion Frampton.

And clearly, if Herring wins this bout, then there is a looming title defense with former WBO featherweight Champion, Shakur Stevenson. The unbeaten, 22 year old Stevenson is currently ranked number one by the WBO and would be Herring’s mandatory for later in the year.

That would be another lucrative bout on the horizon back in the U.S.

And, if Frampton is unable to fight soon, that may be in place of “The Jackal” on Herring’s radar.