CARL FRAMPTON’S BID to become the first ever three-weight world champion from the island of Ireland has been pushed back for an undetermined number of weeks with the Northern Irishman citing a minor hand injury as the cause for the postponement of his bout with super-featherweight world champion Jamel Herring.
Belfast’s ‘Jackal’ [28-2, 16KOs] and the former US Marine soldier [22-2, 10KOs] were due to finally lock horns on 27 February in London but will once more face a delay due to a “twinge” in one of Frampton’s hands for which he won’t require surgery.
Frampton’s co-promoter on this side of the Atlantic, Frank Warren, has confirmed that the former two-weight world champion’s fellow Belfast man Anthony Cacace [18-1, 7KOs] will deputise in the headline slot on BT Sport later this month, his British super-featherweight title defence against Leon Woodstock [12-2, 5KOs] bumped up to the top of Queensberry Promotions’ bill at the Copper Box Arena.
Cacace, 32, has for years been extremely highly regarded within Irish boxing circles but his slow-burning career could properly ignite should he take advantage of his primetime televised spot in 10 days’ time. He sensationally beat the fancied Englishman Sam Bowen to win the Londsdale belt during his last outing in November 2019, which was also broadcast on BT Sport.
Frampton said of his injury: “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. So, I asked about the possibility of a postponement to the fight and it was agreed to.
“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.
“I did go into a fight with a hand injury against Tyler McCreary [in December 2019] and ended up requiring surgery afterwards on both hands,” added Frampton.
“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.”
