Editor’s note: This article was originally published on DAZN.com.
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Carl Frampton has admitted that anything less than his ‘A game’ will not suffice if he is to become the first Irish three-weight world champion at the expense of Jamel Herring on Saturday.
Herring defends his junior lightweight title against former junior featherweight and featherweight beltholder Frampton at Caesars Palace Bluewaters in Dubai in what many experts believe is a 50-50 fight.
At 35 and 34, respectively, both champion and challenger are aware that they won’t have much time to rebuild if they leave the ring Saturday without the title. As a result, they are likely to pull out all the stops in the Middle East.
“For me to win this fight, I will need to be perfect,” he told Sky Sports. “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 criticized. 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.
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“We will see what happens. I expect a big performance from Jamel and I am prepared for that. 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 to do it.”
Herring (22-2, 10 KOs) last fought on Sept. 5, when he defeated Jonathan Oquendo by an eighth-round disqualification after repeated head butts by the challenger. Frampton (28-2, 16 KOs) is coming off a seventh-round knockout of Darren Traynor on Aug. 15.