Carl Frampton forced to postpone title fight with Jamel Herring

Northern Irishman says hand injury is ‘nothing too serious’ but was told to rest it

Carl Frampton was due to attempt to become a three-weight world champion in London on February 27th but the headline fight has now been put off, with no new date chosen. Photograph: Stevie English/Inpho
Carl Frampton was due to attempt to become a three-weight world champion in London on February 27th but the headline fight has now been put off, with no new date chosen. Photograph: Stevie English/Inpho

Carl Frampton's title fight against super-featherweight champion Jamel Herring has been postponed due to a hand injury.

The Northern Irishman was due to attempt to become a three-weight world champion in London on February 27th but the headline fight has now been put off, with no new date chosen.

“It’s just a bit of a twinge to my hand, nothing too serious but I have seen a specialist and his advice was to rest it,” Frampton said.

“So I asked about the possibility of a postponement to the fight and it was agreed to.

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“It gives me a better chance because I will be going into the fight with two good hands after taking advice from the specialist. It’s nothing major though and there is no fracture.”

The 33-year-old previously underwent hand surgery on both hands after his victory over Tyler McCreary in December 2019.

“I did go into a fight with a hand injury against Tyler McCreary and ended up requiring surgery afterwards on both hands,” added Frampton.

Training

“No disrespect to Tyler, but Jamel Herring is a world champion and at a higher level so I need to be at my best. That is what I intend to be.

“I haven’t been able to spar or hit the heavy bags for a while. From next week I have been given the go-ahead to start doing that again. I have still been training, doing loads of running, shadow boxing and hitting the paddles as well, which kind of replicates the pads, but I have not hit anything solid for the last two weeks.

“It wouldn’t have sat right with me to pull out if people had spent their hard-earned money on tickets and travel, but this is completely different and I just want to give myself the best opportunity to win and that is it.”