Carl Frampton aiming for 'perfect' performance against Jamel Herring to make Irish history
- James Holland
- 1 April 2021
Carl Frampton wants to become the first three-weight world champion to hail from Ireland.
Carl Frampton says he will need to produce a 'perfect' performance to beat Jamel Herring in their world title fight on Saturday.
Frampton will become the first three-weight world champion to hail from Ireland if he takes Herring's WBO super-featherweight belt in Dubai.
The bout will see him return to world title level for the first time since his unanimous decision loss to Leeds' Josh Warrington in December 2018.
Frampton saw his IBF world featherweight championship stolen that night, but 'the Jackal' is intent on making it a fight to remember this time around.
Carl Frampton lost his IBF featherweight world title to Josh Warrington in 2018
Speaking ahead of the bout, Frampton said (via Sky Sports): "For me to win this fight, I will need to be perfect.
"If I carry out my game-plan, I believe I will win this fight. Everything is aligning.
"I will expect the best Jamel Herring I have ever seen. His last performance was criticised. My own performance in my last fight wasn't brilliant. I am prepared to be better.
"Hopefully Jamel is as well. I think the fact I got here early is certainly a benefit to me. We will see what happens. I expect a big performance from Jamel and I am prepared for that."
Frampton's last fight was a TKO victory over Darren Traynor at London's York Hall in August 2020.
He's beaten the likes of Scott Quigg, Leo Santa Cruz and Nonito Donaire during a decorated career. But this could be Frampton's biggest test yet.
He continued: "I am very proud of what I have done in my career so far. But the chance to go down as the only ever three-weight world champion in the whole island of Ireland and only the fourth in Britain… it will put me in an elite bunch of fighters across the world, and it would make me very proud."
His opponent Herring picked up the WBO strap with a convincing unanimous decision victory over Japan's Masayuki Ito in 2019.
He's since registered a successful title defence against Lamont Roach and saw opponent Jonathan Oquendo disqualified in a subsequent bout.
Victory for Frampton would give him a chance at unifying the super-featherweight division, in addition to making history in his home country.
Gervonta Davis and Oscar Valdez are the other world champions at 130 pounds as things stand.
