Jamel Herring Looks Ready to Retire with Loss to Jackson England
It’s always a tricky proposition when a fighter decides to fight again. More times than not, it proves to be a foolhardy decision. The latest case may be former WBO junior lightweight champion Jamel “Semper Fi” Herring (24-5, 12 KOs). His performance in his April 3 bout with Jackson Jon England (16-3, 8 KOs) suggests it is time to hang up the gloves for good.
On April 3, Herring traveled to Adelaide, Australia and lost by split decision (97-93 for Herring, 96-94 and 96-94 for England) to England in a ten-round junior lightweight contest. Herring was effective in the early rounds with the jab and landing counter punches from the outside. But in the middle rounds, the local Aussie fighter stepped up the pressure and his pace.
With the fight in the balance in the later rounds, the fighter from Australia fought with a greater sense of urgency. Herring had an excellent last round, but it was too little, too late in a fight that was not easy to score. In the end, the decision seemed fair.
Following a decision loss to Jamaine Ortiz in May 2022, Herring announced that he was retiring. In September 2023, Semper Fi announced that he was coming back. He returned to the ring with a first-round stoppage victory over Victor Molina in November 2023.
TIME TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR
Herring hoped that a win over England would jump-start another world title run. But Semper Fi never seized the initiative and looked far from the fighter of his world championship days.
In truth, England is a C-level fighter, at best. The most notable name on his record was a unanimous decision loss to former world title challenger Liam Wilson in December 2023. In his prime, Herring would have outboxed England with relative ease.
The former champion has had an excellent career. But, he’s also 38 years old. If Herring can’t beat fighters like England, that’s not a good sign. Before his comeback, he was a boxing analyst for ESPN and was gaining positive reviews from the boxing community for his breakdown and astute analysis of fights. It’s looking like ringside commentary is his future, not fighting.
