Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Carl told me ‘I’m finished’ but fire burning brighter than ever now
TRAINER SEES LOT MOORE TO COME FROM FRAMPTON
JAMIE MOORE believes the stars are aligning for Carl Frampton to write his name in the history books.
The Jackal takes on Jamel Herring for the American’s WBO world super-featherweight title in Dubai tonight.
If he wins, the 34-year-old will become Ireland’s first-ever three-weight world champion.
Frampton came close to retiring following his defeat to
Josh Warrington in
December, 2018, but
Moore believes the lessons learned from that bruising night in Manchester will stand his fighter in good stead heading into tonight’s bout.
“If I had seen something negative in the gym since that Warrington fight, I would have told Carl that it’s not worth it, go and walk off into the sunset and live the rest of your life,” Moore (inset, with Frampton) said.
“But he has shown such determination and ambition, and he knows what went wrong in the Warrington fight.
“He is better equipped to win this fight now. “I had this weird feeling in the changing room following the Warrington fight, that it happened for a reason. You can never understand why, and I didn’t at the time.
“But when you look back and connect the dots, the reason we’re here today is because of what happened against Warrington. Carl has shown strength of character and determination, and he is better equipped to become Ireland’s first three-weight world champ.”
Recalling the aftermath of that Warrington defeat at Manchester Arena, Moore said: “Carl said to me in the changing room afterwards, ‘I am done’.
“I would have had no issues with Carl walking away after the Warrington fight. I would still have been happy for him.
“We had already booked a New Year trip to Dubai together with our families. We had been messaging each other a few times before that.
“I met him at the reception of the hotel in Dubai, and he didn’t even say hello. The first words he said were ‘I can’t go out like that’.
“I said ‘Hi, mate, are you okay?’ and he just replied ‘I can’t go out like that’.
“I said ‘What are you f ****** talking about’, and he just said he was fuming with himself after watching the fight back and he said he couldn’t go out like that.
“So I said if that was how he felt, give it a month or so and we will see how he feels.
“But that burning desire to right those wrongs have brought us to now.”
WBO champion Herring weighed in at 129.4lbs for the contest, with Frampton slightly heavier at 129.9lbs. But both men came in under the 130lbs super-featherweight limit to set up a huge title showdown.
Frampton highlighted the Justice for Noah Donohoe campaign by wearing a ‘Noah’s Army’ t-shirt at the weigh-in for his fight at The Rotunda Casears Palace Bluewater.
Frampton has previously held world titles at super-bantamweight and featherweight, but the 34-year-old admits that becoming a three-weight king would be his most significant achievement
“I need to prove it to myself but I need to prove it to other people,” said Frampton.
“I believe Jamie Moore and Nigel Travis are fantastic coaches and I want to reward them with winning a world title, so I fully intend on doing that.
“If I win the fight, I think it would go down as my best win.”
Defeat for Herring could also push him towards retirement.
A former US marine, who suffered from PTSD after a harrowing tour of duty in Iraq, Herring has endured a testing life.
The lowest moment came in July 2009 when he lost his daughter, Ariyanah, to Sids (sudden infant death syndrome).
It took Herring years to recover and last summer he said: “I still get flashbacks of her tragic death. They also come from my time in Iraq and when I lost my best friend, Stephen.
“All those negative things hit me one after the other and brought me down. My dreams turned to nightmares. I was depressed. At one point it was unbearable.”