Carl Frampton has confirmed that his February 27 WBO super-featherweight title challenge against Jamel Herring has been postponed after he sustained a hand injury.
The Belfast man’s bid to become a three-weight world champion will now take place at a later date to be confirmed.
Anthony Cacace’s British 130lbs title defence against Lyon Woodstock has been elevated to the main event in 10 days’ time.
Frampton said in a statement: “It is just a bit of a twinge to my hand, nothing too serious but I have seen a specialist and his advice was to rest it. So I asked about the possibility of a postponement to the fight and it was agreed to.
“It gives me a better chance because I will be going into the fight with two good hands after taking the advice from the specialist. It is nothing major though and there is no fracture.
“I did go into a fight with a hand injury against Tyler McCreary and ended up requiring surgery afterwards on both hands. No disrespect to Tyler, but Jamel Herring is a world champion and at a higher level so I need to be at my best. That is what I intend to be.
“I haven’t been able to spar or hit the heavy bags for a while. From next week I have been given the go-ahead to start doing that again. I have still been training, doing loads of running, shadow boxing and hitting the paddles as well, which kind of replicates the pads, but I have not hit anything solid for the last two weeks.
“It wouldn’t have sat right with me to pull out if people had spent their hard earned money on tickets and travel, but this is completely different and I just want to give myself the best opportunity to win and that is it.
“I would like to thank [promoters] Frank [Warren] and Bob [Arum] for making this possible, plus Jamel as well for his understanding. It is something that just happens in boxing and I am thankful we have been able to postpone it.”
Promoter Frank Warren added: “Carl has picked up an injury unfortunately, so we’ve had to postpone that fight for the time being.
“Like most fans, I was looking forward to seeing Carl make history by being crowned a three-weight world champion. That will have to wait for now, but we still have a fantastic card of fights lined up for next Saturday night.
“Cacace vs Woodstock has been booked for a year now, and I think we’re all excited to finally see these two meet in the ring. It’ll be an all-action, excitement-guaranteed kind of fight, so don’t miss it.”