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Carl Frampton goes all-in to make history in desert rumble with Jamel Herring

Lull before the storm... Frampton and Jamel Herring shake hands at yesterday's press conference
Lull before the storm... Frampton and Jamel Herring shake hands at yesterday's press conference Lull before the storm... Frampton and Jamel Herring shake hands at yesterday's press conference

VICTORY tomorrow night means Carl Frampton goes down in history as Ireland’s first-ever three-weight world champion and he says that would mean “the world” to him.

He expects to face the absolute best of WBO super-featherweight champion Jamel Herring at Dubai’s Caesar’s Palace and, despite stepping up in weight and giving away clear advantages in terms of height and reach, he says he will win.

His former mentor Barry McGuigan lost his world title to Steve Cruz at the Las Vegas version of Caesar’s Palace but Frampton has total confidence that he will take Herring’s title and add it to the belts he won at super-bantam and featherweight.

“I respect Jamel and I respect his team, I always have,” said a composed and confident Frampton at yesterday’s press conference.

“I don’t think I’ve ever said anything disrespectful to him, I’ve always just aired my honest opinion. Jamel is a very, very good fighter and for me to win this fight I will need to get it perfect on the night. I feel the way I have been training and what I have been doing in preparation for this fight; if I carry it on Saturday I will win.

“I feel fully confident. There’s a different feeling for this one for me – I just feel like everything is aligning, the stars are coming together and it’s going to happen.

If he wins tomorrow night and makes history, he can say: ‘I told you so’. If he loses, they’ll say he was grasping at straws but Frampton insists that his confidence is based on the quality of his performances during his training camp.

“Winning would mean the world to me,” said Frampton who was joined in Dubai by his parents and his former amateur coach Cooper McClure.

“I am very, very proud in what I have done in my career so far but the chance to go down as the only three-weight world champion from the whole island of Ireland and one of the few British fighters (Duke McKenzie and Ricky Burns are the others) to do it.

“So I would join an absolute elite bunch of fighters and I want to do that. I am so determined to make sure that happens on Saturday night and personally it’ll mean the world to me.”