Herring retains junior lightweight title by TKO, sends Frampton into retirement

Akhmadaliev stops Iwasa; Garcia-Fortuna, Oubaali-Donaire deals

Jamel Herring impressively retained his junior lightweight world title and sent Carl Frampton into retirement courtesy of a sixth-round knockout in their long-delayed fight on Saturday at Caesars Bluewaters Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.

Herring overcame a bad cut over his right eye in a strong performance in his third title defense as he used his height and reach advantages to mostly keep Frampton on the outside, instead of allowing him to fight on the inside where he wanted to be.

Herring also denied Frampton’s long-stated goal of becoming the first Irishman to win world titles in three weight classes after having previously won belts at junior featherweight and featherweight.

After Herring’s last defense, an eighth-round disqualification win over Jonathan Oquendo in Las Vegas in September, many accused Herring of quitting. He suffered a scratched cornea and there were several head butts from Oquendo that led to the eventual DQ, but it was clear that Herring did not want to continue.

The withering criticism was on Herring’s mind against Frampton.

“It was an emotional roller coaster just to get here,” Herring said. “My last outing wasn’t my best and people doubted me and called me every name in the book but even with the cut (against Frampton) I wasn’t going to give up, I wasn’t going to quit.”

Herring (23-2, 11 KOs), 35, a southpaw from Coram, New York, had a tremendous size advantage — 5-foot-10 to 5-5 — and he used every bit of it against Frampton. He kept him on the outside and fired jabs down the middle and body shots to slow Frampton, who wanted to be the aggressor.

Frampton (28-3, 16 KOs), 34, of Northern Ireland, got inside occasionally and landed some solid right hands but not nearly enough to make a difference. But in the fourth round, he opened a nasty cut over Herring’s left eye, which seemed to spur on Herring to become aggressive in his own right.

In the fifth round, Frampton walked into a clean straight left hand that dropped him and it didn’t seem like Frampton ever really recovered from it. In the sixth round, Herring landed a powerful left uppercut that stopped Frampton in his tracks before he fell to the canvas.

He beat the count but was in bad shape and Herring was all over him. He unleashed a four-punch combination that he finished with another tremendous left hand that badly rocked him. That’s when Frampton trainer Jamie Moore to throw in the towel, and referee Giustino Di Giovanni waved off the fight at 1 minute, 40 seconds.

According to CompuBox statistics, Herring landed 66 of 267 punches (25 percent) and Frampton connected with only 39 of 226 (17 percent). Herring outlanded him in every round.

Throughout the buildup to the fight, Frampton said he would retire if he lost and in the ring afterward a very emotional Frampton said he would keep his word.

“I’m really upset, I wanted nothing more,” he said of winning a belt in a third division. “I said before I would retire if I lost this fight and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do. My wife and kids have made so many sacrifices. I’ve been away too long. I’ve missed them. I just want to dedicate my life to my family now. Boxing has been good to me; it’s also been bad to me. But the last few years with these boys (Moore and his team) has been the best part of my career.”

Frampton made no excuses for his loss.

“I just got beat by the better man,” he said. “I really struggled to get inside on him. He was sharp-shooting from a distance and had a perfect game plan and I just got beat. I have no excuses. I had an amazing camp. I was coming into this fight to win it and I was just beaten by the better man.”

Herring joined Frampton during his post-fight interview and consoled him.

“No matter what Carl, you’re always going to be one of my favorite fighters,” Herring told him. “I’m just honored to share the ring with him. He’s a two-division world champ. He’s done great in the sport of boxing. It was an honor, man. God bless you whatever you do from here on out.

“Carl Frampton is a tremendous champion. I’ve been a fan since day 1. Its tough to see any veteran of the sport go out like that but I am glad he can walk out on his own two feet. Just God bless him and his family. It was a great night.”

As for what Herring will do next it remains to be seen. Unbeaten former featherweight titlist and Top Rank stablemate Shakur Stevenson is his mandatory challenger and he will be ordered to fight the winner of a June 12 bout between Stevenson and Jeremiah Nakathila. But Herring has never shown much interest in facing Stevenson.

Herring prefers a title unification bout and mentioned fighting fellow 130-pound champion Oscar Valdez, who is also with Top Rank.

“I always wanted to get another title,” Herring said. “This was a great test here. I know Oscar Valdez has expressed interest in unifying. I would love that. Most people already know I’ve had plans on moving up (to lightweight), but if that fight’s available let’s make it happen.”

Also on the card

Former four-division world titlist Donnie Nietes, who has been idle for more than two years, made a triumphant return in a unanimous decision win over Pablo Carrillo in a junior bantamweight bout. Nietes controlled the entire fight to win 99-91, 98-92 and 96-95, even though that final scorecard appeared quite off base.

In his previous fight, Nietes (43-1-5, 23 KOs), 38, of the Philippines, outpointed Kazuto Ioka to win a vacant junior bantamweight title on Dec. 31, 2018 in Macau, but had not fought since while contemplating retirement, seeing longtime promoter ALA Boxing going out of business and the coronavirus pandemic dramatically curtailing fight opportunities. But then he decided to continue his career, signed with MTK Global and made his return against Carrillo (25-8-1, 16 KOs), of Colombia.

Lightweight prospect Keyshawn Davis (2-0, 2 KO), 22, of Norfolk, Virginia, easily handled Richman Ashelley (10-2, 9 KOs), 22, of Ghana, stopping him at the end of the fourth round of their scheduled six-rounder.

Davis, a 2017 National Golden Gloves champion and 2019 amateur world championships silver medalist, notched a second-round knockout win in his pro debut Feb. 27 on the Canelo Alvarez-Avni Yildirim undercard in Miami. In his second fight, he bullied, beat up and landed many sharp punches against Ashelley, who retired on his stool after the fourth round.

Akhmadaliev retains belts

Unified junior featherweight world titlist Murodjon Akhmadaliev, fighting at home for the first time as a professional, stopped interim titlist and mandatory challenger Ryosuke Iwasa in the fifth round on Saturday in the main event of a DAZN card at Humo Arena in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Although Akhmadaliev dominated the fight and was in total control as he whacked Iwasa around in the fifth round, referee Yury Koptsev’s stoppage appeared to be abrupt as Iwasa was still defending himself.

Nonetheless, “MJ” Akhmadaliev made a successful first defense of the two 122-pound belts he won by split decision over Daniel Roman on Jan. 30, 2020 in Miami on the Demetrius Andrade-Luke Keller undercard in just his eighth professional fight.

Akhmadaliev (9-0, 7 KOs), 26, who was a 2016 Olympic bronze medalist, had not fought since because of the coronavirus pandemic. However, it did not look like the layoff was at all detrimental to him. He was in fine form from the outset, easily controlling the fight with his jab and combinations. He backed up fellow southpaw Iwasa (27-4, 17 KOs), 31, of Japan, constantly and outlanded him in all but one round.

By the fifth round he was teeing off on Iwasa, who hadn’t fought since December 2019.  Akhmadaliev was landing solid punches with both hands as Iwasa backed into the ropes and although he was throwing an occasional punch back and defending himself, Koptsev intervened at 1 minute, 30 seconds.

Akhmadaliev landed 109 of 311 punches (35 percent) and Iwasa landed 36 of 336 (11 percent), according to CompuBox statistics.

After the fight Roman (28-3-1, 10 KOs), 30, of Los Angeles, made it clear he wants a rematch with Akhmadaliev

“Congratulations MJ on your victory. Now let’s give the fans a real fight,” Roman wrote on social media. “You and I have unfinished business. I want the rematch and fans want the rematch.”

On the undercard, four of Uzbekistan’s top amateurs who are now top pro prospects also won:

• Junior middleweight Israil Madrimov (7-0, 5 KOs), 27, routed Emmany Kalombo (14-1, 14 KOs), of the Democratic Republic of Congo, winning 100-89, 99-90 and 98-92.

• Junior welterweight Shakhram Giyasov (11-0, 9 KOs), 27, a 2016 Olympic silver medalist, knocked out Patricio Lopez Moreno (28-5, 20 KOs), 26, of Mexico, in the third round.

• Heavyweight Bakhodir Jalolov (8-0, 8 KOs), 26, a 2016 Uzbekistan Olympian and 2019 world amateur championships gold medalist, knocked out Kristaps Zutis (7-2-2, 7 KOs), 30, of Latvia, in the second round of a six-rounder.

• Junior flyweight Hasanboy Dusmatov (3-0, 3 KOs), 27, a 2016 Olympic gold medalist, knocked out Muhsin Kizota (11-3, 5 KOs), 21, of Tanzania, in the second round of their scheduled 10-rounder.

Garcia, Fortuna make deal

Interim lightweight titlist Ryan Garcia, boxing’s hottest rising star, and veteran contender Javier Fortuna have agreed to terms to meet in a mandated bout, a source with knowledge of the deal told me on Friday night.

The fight will headline a Golden Boy Promotions card on DAZN and it will take place on a date to be determined in July with the likely site being either in Las Vegas or Los Angeles, according to the source. I wrote a story on it for BoxingScene, which you can read here: https://www.boxingscene.com/ryan-garcia-javier-fortuna-agree-terms-july-fight--156609

Oubaali-Donaire rescheduled

Bantamweight world titlist Nordine Oubaali and former four-division world champion and mandatory challenger Nonito Donaire have had their long-delayed fight rescheduled.

They have both signed their contracts and the fight is slated to take place on May 29 on Showtime, a source with direct knowledge of the arrangement told me on Friday night. I wrote a story on it for BoxingScene, which you can read here: https://www.boxingscene.com/oubaali-donaire-rescheduled-29-on-showtime-says-source--156615?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Herring-Frampton photo: D4G Promotions; Akhmadaliev photo: Matchroom Boxing