Jamel Herring vs Carl Frampton Preview, Tips, Odds & Prediction

History could be made this weekend as Carl Frampton aims to become the first-ever three-weight world champion to come out of Ireland as he takes on the WBO super featherweight world champion Jamel Herring in Dubai.

The fight has been in the works for over 18 months now, but we will finally get a chance to see it this Saturday and to make it even better, it will be broadcasted for free on terrestrial TV, with Channel 5 claiming the rights for the fight.

We'll take a look at how both fighters can win the fight and give our prediction for Saturday's bout.

In what is an incredible story, Herring was born in New York in 1985 and went on to serve as a sergeant in the US Marines who served two tours of Iraq. Herring would go on to fight for the All Marine Boxing Corps and he went on to captain the US Olympic team at the 2012 Olympics in London whilst still serving in the Marines.

He did, however, finish out his service upon returning from the Olympics and decided to turn professional where he's accumulated an impressive record of 22 wins from 24 fights two defeats. Herring burst onto the world scene when defeating Masayuki Ito for the WBO 130lbs title in May 2019, and he hasn't looked back since with two successful defences of his world title. Now, he takes on arguably his toughest opponent to date in the shape of the Northern Irishman Carl Frampton.

So, how does the American win the fight? It's fairly simple. He has a five-inch height advantage and seven-inch reach advantage over Frampton, so he needs to keep this fight at range. That size difference is huge especially at the lower weights and renowned for his high boxing IQ, Herring is more than capable of keeping this fight on the outside for 12 rounds.

The American is not necessarily known for his one-punch knockout power, and he'll be looking to set traps for the smaller man in Frampton and may look to counter to the body early on in the fight to slow the Northern Irishman's feet down in the latter stages to make it easier for him to hold him at range and get his shots away.

The record books could need changing come Saturday night as Northern Ireland's Carl Frampton aims to become the first three-weight world champion to come out of Northern Ireland.

Born in Belfast in 1987, Frampton was a star amateur on the domestic circuit and even went on to claim silver in the European Championships in Dublin back in 2007 before retiring from the unpaid ranks in 2009, with a rumoured record of 103 wins from 114 bouts.

His professional career started emphatically with 17 wins from his first 17 bouts but then it was time for "The Jackal" to take the step up to world title level and step up he did with a comfortable points defeat of Kiko Martinez for the IBF super bantamweight crown, a fighter he'd previously beaten 18 months earlier for the European title.

Frampton then defended the belt twice, overcoming two knockdowns in one of those fights against the late Alejandro Gonzales before becoming unified super bantamweight world champion with victory over arch-rival, Scott Quigg.

With the weight catching up with him, the 34-year-old immediately stepped up to featherweight after the Quigg fight to take on the then unbeaten Leo Santa Cruz and in typical Frampton fashion, he put on a masterclass of performance to become a two-weight world champion at the first attempt. Since then though he has lost two of his seven fights with a defeat in the rematch to Santa Cruz and then loss to Josh Warrington back in 2018.

A dominant performance over Tyler McCreary, who is extremely similar in physique to Herring, and a stoppage victory of Darren Traynor has followed, so he goes into his eighth world title fight with some momentum.

The main thing Frampton has to do to win this fight is close the distance on Herring. He can't step into range letting massive combinations go cause Herring will be too smart for that and be able to pick him off with counter punches off the back foot.

Frampton needs to think. He needs to hold a high guard, trick his way in with faints and then use his hand speed and noticeable power to get to work on Herring's body. If Frampton can find have success early on in the fight and make Herring somewhat smother his own work, he'll frustrate the American, and frustration often leads to mistakes and openings.

So how do we see the fight going? Well, as 50/50 matchups go, they don't get much more even than this.

It's clear to see how both fighters will approach the fight with their game plans fairly obvious to even the most casual of boxing fans. What the fight may come down to, however, is the refereeing.

If the ref lets Frampton work on the inside in the clinch, it will play into the Northern Irishman's hands massively. However, expect Herring to complain at every opportunity to upset the rhythm of Frampton if he's allowed to do this early on and to make the most of any foul play.

It's going to be a close affair but for us we just think the size difference will work in the favour of Jamel Herring more. He'll like be able to call upon what he learnt in the amateurs with his nice long solid jab and ability to prize the smaller in and then nail Frampton with not necessarily hard but ultimately scoring shots.

Another factor of this prediction is Frampton's problems with his hands. A slight injury to his right hand put the fight back a month this time around and if he has problems with it once again, it's going to take a near remarkable performance to get the win.

Prediction: - Jamel Herring to win by Decision or Technical Decision - 7/4 @ William Hill