Jamel Herring is going to have to wait a little longer to defend his WBO junior lightweight title.
Herring’s bout against Carl Frampton, scheduled for Feb. 27 in London, has been postponed after Frampton injured his hand, a source told ESPN, confirming multiple reports.
The fight, the source said, is now expected to take place in late March or early April.
This was expected to be Herring’s third defense of the WBO lightweight title, which he has held since beating Masayuki Ito by unanimous decision on May 25, 2019. Herring has won his past six fights.
It’s the second fight in a row that has been postponed for Herring (22-2, 10 KOs), who twice had his bout against Jonathan Oquendo pushed back because of Herring testing positive for COVID-19. Herring eventually beat Oquendo on Sept. 5 after Oquendo was disqualified for a head-butt.
It’s also not the first time a potential Herring-Frampton fight has been pushed back. The originally proposed date was in November, but those plans were scuttled when Herring suffered injuries to his right eye against Oquendo. The fight was then moved to January, but COVID-19 issues scuttled that option.
Frampton (28-2, 16 KOs) is seeking his fourth belt after winning the IBF and WBA super bantamweight titles in 2014 and 2016 and then the WBA featherweight title against Leo Santa Cruz in 2016 — a belt he lost to Santa Cruz in a rematch.