What is Ahead for Jamel Herring at 135?
3Kings Boxing has learned from Jerry Casarez, the advisor of former WBO 130-pound champion Jamel “Semper Fi” Herring (23-3, 11KOs), that Herring will be moving up to the lightweight division. This decision comes five months after his one-sided defeat to two-division champion and current WBO-130-pound champion Shakur Stevenson.
The move signals to this writer that Herring will be attempting one last run at becoming world champion again. However, one must ask how he will he fare in a loaded lightweight division.
Currently, the 135-pound division is filled with young fighters either on the rise or already world champions. The names include former WBC Interim champion Ryan Garcia, WBC lightweight champion Devin Haney, unified champion George Kambosos, former world title challenger Isaac Cruz, and multi-weight champion and current WBA Regular champion Gervonta Davis. You also have the veteran former world champions that include Vasyl Lomachenko, Javier Fortuna, and Joseph Diaz. Needless to say, it’s going to be an uphill battle for Herring.
Against Stevenson, he looked completely bewildered. Herring had no answer for the speed, athleticism, or physicality of his younger adversary. While he has competed at lightweight before, this go around seems to be more challenging. While it wouldn’t be smart to completely dismiss his chances of success, I simply find it hard to envision him having much success. He’ll also be doing so with a new trainer in Manny Robles.
Being the solid fighter that Herring is, he does have good counterpunching ability, solid defense and the experience to make things uneasy for a lot of the guys mentioned above. But at 36 years of age, it’ll be interesting to see how his body holds up against an even tougher division than the one he’s leaving. Truly, only time will tell.
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By: Jerrell Fletcher
