Carl Frampton One Fight Away from Title Shot
Well it looks like the rays of fortune are shining down on former two-division world champion Carl “The Jackal” Frampton (27-2, 15 KO’s). Recently, Top Rank big wig Bob Arum announced that if Frampton is victorious in his next bout against Darren “Trayn-Wreck” Traynor (16-3, 7 KO’s), he will be granted an immediate prizefight with WBO world super featherweight Jamel “Semper Fi” Herring (21-2, 10 KO’s).
“If Jamel is successful and if Carl Frampton is successful on Saturday, I have a date picked out in November when they’ll fight for the title. That’s done. Everybody’s on board.”
“One thing I can’t control is the virus, but we’re gonna do that fight in November. It may well be another ‘bubble’ fight, with no fans, and we’ll have to get Carl over to the States to do it. But if both guys win these interim fights, you can count on a world title fight between Herring and Frampton in November.”
~ Bob Arum, Top Rank
LUCK CHANGING
Frampton, ranked #8 by the WBO, is coming off a much needed win over Tyler “The Golden Child” McCreary (16-1-1, 7 KO’s). The Jackal took on the somewhat green fighter almost a solid year after suffering a unanimous decision loss to Josh “The Leeds Warrior” Warrington (30-0, 7 KO’s) on December 22, 2018. At the time that they fought, Frampton was by far the stiffest opponent on the up and coming McCreary’s record.
While talented, the Golden Child did not have enough wrinkles in his game to best the seasoned veteran. Barring a major upset, the Irishman is only one bout away from attempting to become a three-division world champion.
NOT SO FAST
Before the Jackal can test his might against Herring, they both have fights to deal with. In Semper Fi’s case, you could even say that he has two battles ahead of him. In the ring, the former Marine must defeat Jonathan “Polvo” Oquendo (31-6, 19 KO’s) on September 5. Outside the squared-circle, Herring must also overcome his ordeal with COVID-19.
On two consecutive occasions, Herring was forced to withdraw from his ESPN bouts due to testing positive for the coronavirus. Given his snake-bitten luck recently, Team Herring will have to keep their fingers crossed that the WBO champ is granted a clean bill of health in September. Provided that he is sanctioned to fight, like Frampton, Herring is the favorite to win the contest.
With all these moving parts however, we will just have to keep an eye on this interesting situation.
By: Bakari Simpson
