The stakes have remained the same for Jamel Herring’s upcoming title defense versus Carl Frampton, even if all of the surrounding parts have dramatically changed.
Nearly a year after preparing to travel to Belfast as a man without a country, Herring will now find crowd support of his own ahead the third defense of his WBO junior lightweight title. The long-awaited showdown with Frampton (28-2, 16KOs) takes place this Saturday at Ceasars Palace in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (ESPN+, 4:00 p.m. ET).
There was a time when the defending titlist looked forward to fighting in front of a hostile crowd in Frampton’s Belfast hometown. Both boxers figure to have their own support system this weekend, which is good enough regardless of which side more so pulls the crowd.
“Anytime you can get the fans involved, it’s great for the sport,” Herring told BoxingScene.com. “As far as I’ve been told, there will be some sort of fan support in Dubai. There will be Marines there since we have the U.S. Embassy there.
“So, I might even have the advantage, even in a whole different country. The Marine Corps is everywhere. We’re worldwide. No matter where you go, there will be Marines nearby.”
Herring is a decorated U.S. Marine, having served two tours In Iraq and who has proudly represented the Corps throughout his time as a boxer in both the amateur and professional ranks. He was well-represented in a May 2019 title-winning effort over Japan’s Masayuki Ito, accompanied by his fellow Marines who joined him in the ring and even nearly collapsing the canvas in the process on the Saturday preceding Memorial Day.
The first defense of his reign came two days prior to Veteran’s Day. Herring’s ring entrance for his eventual 12-round win over undefeated mandatory challenger Lamont Roach Jr. came complete with a ride to the ring in a military Humvee and to the tune of The Marines’ Hymn blaring through the air at Chukchansi Park in Fresno, California.
Following the win and then Frampton’s subsequent victory over Tyler McCreary later that month, Herring (22-2, 10KOs) was prepared to hit the road for a June 2020 title defense in Belfast. The now 35-year-old southpaw from the Coram section of Long Island, New York looked forward to that type of adversity, only for the event to get shut down due to the pandemic.
Herring and Frampton instead took on and prevailed in separate stay-busy fights, both taking place behind closed doors. Similar circumstances threatened to surround their rescheduled bout which was due to take place Feb. 27th at Copper Box Arena in London, which would not have involved an ESPN platform nor Top Rank, with whom Herring signed in 2017.
Both entities are back in the mix for this weekend’s showing, perhaps the blessing in disguise to come from Frampton’s reported hand injury which delayed the fight by another five weeks.
“It feels good to have [ESPN+] covering this. More importantly, Top Rank is back in the mix,” notes Herring. “We didn’t know what was going on last time. But they’re involved now.
“For all of the love and support they’ve shown me from the time I first signed with them, it’s important to me that they’re involved with this fight. Just to have that support means a lot, as it does that the people in the states can sit down and watch this fight live on ESPN instead of not having it available at all.”
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox