Jamel Herring reportedly will be one of the first big-name opponents to return to the ring amid the coronavirus threat.
The junior lightweight titleholder will defend his title on July 2 in Las Vegas, he told ESPN. No opponent has been selected. Herring had been tentatively set to face former two-division beltholder Carl Frampton in Northern Ireland but that fight fell out because of the pandemic.
The site also hasn’t been finalized, although it will be a MGM Resorts property.
“It’s fluid,” said Carl Moretti, director of boxing operations for Top Rank. “We’re on calls every day with stuff. So what we thought was happening on Tuesday is not, and what we thought was happening on Wednesday is now happening. So it just changes and changes.”
Herring (21-2, 10 KOs) won his title by outpointing Masayuki Ito in May of last year. He successfully defended with a decision over Lamont Roach in November.
The 2012 U.S. Olympian is working with trainer Brian McIntyre in Omaha, Nebraska, according to ESPN. He said he doesn’t expect to be rusty when he steps back into the ring.
“It’s funny, I actually felt good for my first sparring session,” Herring said. “So that tells you that even though I haven’t been in a gym setting, the workouts I had been doing at home during my free time, they’ve been paying off.
“So when I got back into the swing of things, it wasn’t a hard adjustment. It’s only one week, and this gives me almost a full eight weeks until the fight arrives.”
Herring won’t face Frampton in July but still wants that fight.
“That’s still the No. 1 priority, for sure,” he said. “I’m still actually shocked from the latest story that I’ve seen, where he’s not willing to fight unless he’s fighting me. If it comes around the December time frame, he will have been out for like an entire year.
“But for me, I just want to stay as busy as much as possible. I’m not getting younger as it is. So why risk coming into big fights with the ring rust on you still.”