Notebook: Frampton gives his side about postponing title shot vs. Herring

'ShoBox' entertains, Quick hits, Tyson 'Show and tell'

It came as no surprise whatsoever when promoter Frank Warren announced Wednesday what was already public and well known – that junior lightweight world titlist Jamel Herring’s defense against Carl Frampton scheduled for Feb. 27 at the Copper Box Arena in London -- without fans due to the coronavirus pandemic -- had been postponed. Officially the reason given was a Frampton hand injury.

Even if Frampton’s injury is legitimate – and he has had a history of hand issues -- there were other issues with the fight that led to a swirl of behind-the-scenes talk in recent days that the fight would be delayed yet again. Herring and Brian McIntyre, Herring’s trainer and manager, were not at all surprised by the development. I spoke to them at length about the situation on Tuesday night from their Colorado Springs, Colorado, training camp and wrote a detailed story for BoxingScene about what they had to say and the issues with the bout, which you can read here: https://www.boxingscene.com/herring-staying-calm-trainer-mcintyre-sounds-off-on-frampton-fight-postponement--155505.

As for the official statement about the postponement released by Warren’s Queensberry Promotions, it was noted that rest of the card would go on as scheduled with British junior lightweight champion Anthony Cacace defending against Lyon Woodstock. It was the original co-feature that will now be the main event.

“It is just a bit of a twinge to my hand, nothing too serious but I have seen a specialist and his advice was to rest it,” Frampton said in the statement. “So I asked about the possibility of a postponement to the fight and it was agreed to. It gives me a better chance because I will be going into the fight with two good hands after taking the advice from the specialist. It is nothing major though and there is no fracture.

“I did go into a fight with a hand injury against Tyler McCreary (in November 2019) and ended up requiring surgery afterwards on both hands. No disrespect to Tyler, but Jamel Herring is a world champion and at a higher level so I need to be at my best. That is what I intend to be.

“I haven't been able to spar or hit the heavy bags for a while. From next week I have been given the go-ahead to start doing that again. I have still been training, doing loads of running, shadow boxing and hitting the paddles as well, which kind of replicates the pads, but I have not hit anything solid for the last two weeks.”
Warren added, “Carl has picked up an injury unfortunately, so we’ve had to postpone that fight for the time being. Like most fans, I was looking forward to seeing Carl make (Irish) history by being crowned a three-weight world champion. That will have to wait for now.”

The new date penciled in for the rescheduled bout is March 27, site to be determined.

Bocachica edges Reyes on ‘ShoBox’

Welterweight Janelson Bocachica (17-0, 11 KOs), 22, of Detroit, edged fellow prospect Mark Reyes Jr. (14-1, 12 KOs), 24, of Tampa, by majority decision in a back-and-forth, competitive fight in the main event of Showtime’s “ShoBox” The New Generation” tripleheader on Wednesday night at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Bocachica won 97-93, 96-94 on two scorecards and one judge had it 95-95 in a bout with many close rounds.

How close? According to CompuBox statistics, they each threw 579 punches and Reyes outlanded Bocachica 158-156.

“I felt like it was an easy victory and I took him to school,” Bocachica said. “He had a short temper and he came out talking shit so you know I had to talk my shit back. But it was all part of the game plan to get him emotional in the ring and it worked in my advantage. They say he was a knockout artist but I didn’t feel his power.

“I want all the big names. I want a big name. ‘ShoBox’ is my home right now. I love ‘ShoBox’ and want to thank them for this opportunity and hope that I am back to headline against another great opponent.”

Reyes didn’t complain at all about the scoring.

“I don’t disagree with the scorecards,” Reyes said. “I obviously could have done more to win but it was a close fight nonetheless. I just have to go back to drawing board and train harder. Obviously, I need to execute things a little bit better during the preparation for my fight. I can’t take anything away from the judges.”

In the co-feature, Detroit-based Russia native Vladimir Shishkin (12-0, 7 KOs), 29, fought through a terrible cut over his left eye inflicted by Sena Agbeko (23-2, 18 KOs), 28, of Ghana, who opened it with a clean right hand in the second round. Shishkin otherwise dominated, winning 100-90, 100-90 and 98-92.

“I did have to overcome adversity with the cut, but I have been cut many times in my career so I was able to deal with it,” Shishkin said. “It affected me a little bit but that’s boxing. It was good to go the distance. I felt like I got a lot of good work in and learned some things. I will improve a lot because of this fight and fix my mistakes. I am ready for a big fight after this.”

In the entertaining eight-round lightweight opener, the busier and harder-punching Abraham Montoya (20-2-1, 14 KOs), 26, of Mexico, notched a mild upset over Alejandro Guerrero (12-1, 9 KOs), 22, of Houston, winning by majority decision: 79-73, 77-75, 76-76. Montoya landed 268 of 1,000 punches (27 percent) and outworked Guerrero, who landed 198 of 623 (32 percent).

“My conditioning felt great and it was all because my physical trainer Raul Franco got me in shape for this fight,” Montoya said. “He is the reason I was able to throw so many punches. I felt I could have kept that pace for 10 or 12 rounds if I had to.”

Quick hits

The IBF purse bid scheduled for the fight between unified lightweight world champion Teofimo Lopez Jr. (16-0, 12 KOs) and mandatory challenger George Kambosos Jr. (19-0, 10 KOs), which was scheduled for Thursday at 12 p.m. ET with participants and IBF staff allowed to attend either by video conference or in person at the offices in Springfield, New Jersey, was postponed due to an impending snowstorm in the region. The IBF said a new date will be scheduled.

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Brooklyn-based Ukrainian super middleweight Ievgen Khytrov (20-2, 17 KOs) has been forced out of his 10-round bout against 2016 French Olympian Christian Mbili (17-0, 16 KOs), which was slated to be the Ring City USA co-feature on March 18 (NBC Sports Net) in Salinas, Puerto Rico, a source with knowledge of the withdrawal told Fight Freaks Unite. Khytrov, who had Covid-19 and is now free of the virus, still has lingering lung issues that have prevented him from training properly, according to the source. Puerto Rican lightweight Alberto Machado (22-2, 18 KOs), a former junior lightweight world titlist, tangles with San Antonio prospect Hector Tanajara (19-0, 5 KOs) in the main event.

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Salita Promotions formally announced a pair of eight-round bouts that will be on the all-female “Superwomen” pay-per-view card headlined by the undisputed junior middleweight title fight between Claressa Shields and Marie-Eve Dicaire on March 5 (PPV and FITE, $29.95) at the Dort Financial Center in Shields’s hometown of Flint, Michigan. In the co-feature, former amateur standout Danielle Perkins (2-0, 1 KO), of Houston, will face Monika Harrison (2-1, 1 KO), of Waycross, Georgia, in a heavyweight rematch. In her pro debut in August, Perkins won a shutout four-round decision over Harrison. Also, middleweight Logan Holler (9-0-1, 3 KO), of Columbia, South Carolina, will fight Newark, Delaware’s Schemelle Baldwin (3-1-2, 2 KO).

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Welterweight prospect Brandun Lee will face Samuel Teah in a 10-round bout that will headline a “ShoBox: The New Generation” tripleheader on March 10 (Showtime, 9 p.m. ET/PT) at Mohegan Sun Arena, Showtime announced during its “ShoBox” telecast on Wednesday night. Lee (21-0, 19 KOs), 21, of La Quinta, California, has been impressive in a string of 12 knockout wins in a row but has yet to face anyone of note. Teah (17-3-1, 7 KOs), 33, of Philadelphia, represents by far his most notable opponent.

Show and tell

I love an obscure boxing card, or sticker in this case, of a superstar as much as the next guy, which means there’s nothing not to love about a little-known set of stickers made by Rafo in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2007. The set is titled “Fighters Borci” (“borci” as it turns out is the Bosnian word for “fighters”; I used Google translator to figure that out) and it contains stickers of top boxers, wrestlers, MMA stars, kickboxers and a few action movie characters (Terminator, Rambo, Superman, Rocky). There are 300-plus stickers in the set but because I have never been able to find a complete checklist, I have no idea the total number. What I do know is that they are really cool and definitely scarce. I have managed to acquire stickers for 10 of the biggest star boxers in the set: Arturo Gatti (misspelled “Gutti”), Bernard Hopkins, Evander Holyfield, Joe Calzaghe, Julio Cesar Chavez Sr., Lennox Lewis, Mike Tyson, Oscar De La Hoya, Vitali Klitschko and Wladimir Klitschko. I know Naseem Hamed is also in the set, but I have yet to find one. Here is the Tyson sticker in my collection.

Bocachica-Reyes photo: Amanda Westcott/Showtime