JAMEL HERRING retained his WBO super-featherweight title and remains on course for a clash with Northern Ireland’s Carl Frampton. He overcame Jonathan Oquendo in Top Rank’s Bubble at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on Saturday (September 5), though had to take the win via disqualification after an intentional head butt from Oquendo.
In the third round Herring landed a quality left uppercut to send Oquendo falling to the canvas.
After that Oquendo drove into Herring head first, causing numerous head clashes. With Herring’s right eye bleeding and closed, Oquendo was disqualified due to the intentional head butt after the bout ended in the eighth round.
“My team felt it was just too much, so they just had to stop it,” Herring said afterwards. “It got ugly.
“In the beginning everything was going real smooth, put him down with an uppercut. We knew he was going to come in head first. I’m not happy with the outcome… It just got too ugly and messy and overall, the second half to me it just felt bad.
“I’m a very harsh critic of myself. It is what it is.”
He added, “I still want the Carl Frampton fight next, by all means. November, December, whatever, I still want that fight next.”
He went to hospital to have the injury checked after the fight to see whether he’d broken the orbital bone. He had no fractures or broken bones but was told a facial injury that hadn’t healed properly had caused issues with his vision.
