Carl Frampton will undergo surgery for injuries in both hands, he wrote Sunday in a story for the Belfast Telegraph.
The procedures, scheduled for Dec. 20, are expected to keep him out of the ring until at least May, writes Frampton, a former featherweight champion who hopes for a shot at the junior lightweight belt held by Jamel Herring.
Frampton (27-2, 15 KOs) went into his 130-pound debut, a unanimous decision over Tyler McReary (16-2, 7 KOs) on Nov. 30 at Las Vegas’ Cosmopolitan, with an injured left hand. He said he hurt his right midway through the bout.
“I went into the fight with a fractured left hand and then finished the fight with a broken right hand,’’ he wrote.
“I think it was in the seventh round I caught McCreary to the forehead and the right hand went.’’
Frampton, 32, decided to fight McReary despite re-injuring his left hand in the final sparring session before the opening bell. He first injured the hand in a freak accident in August, forcing him to withdraw from a fight with Emmanuel Dominguez in Philadelphia. A “large ornament’ in a hotel lobby fell on the hand, he said then.
“A lot of people had paid money to see me in Philadelphia last summer, and that fight unfortunately fell through because of my broken left hand, so I couldn’t let the fans down a second time,’’ he wrote Sunday.
He also said the Nevada State Athletic Commission would not allow an injection that would have eased pain in the left hand.
“The left land had what they call a non-displaced fracture, but because of the damage in the fight, it is now a displaced fracture on the metacarpal. In other words, the bone has moved and I need a pin and plate in it,’’ he said. “The good thing is that I will be able to rest both hands for a good while to make sure they are spot on for the fight with Herring.’’