Jamel Herring defeats Jonathan Oquendo in confusing ending

Jamel Herring successfully defended his WBO junior lightweight against Jonathan Oquendo, but it ended in a very odd manner.

WBO junior lightweight champion Jamel Herring had to wait a long time to make his first title defense of 2020. Things didn’t quite go as planned.

Herring endured multiple fight postponements due to COVID-19 positive tests, but he made a successful defense of his title against Jonathan Oquendo on Saturday, Sept. 5.

Herring (22-2, 10 KOs), 34, of Cincinnati, Ohio, didn’t show any signs of over-training in his performance against Oquendo. He looked determined, fresh, and precise for most of the fight.

Oquendo (31-7, 19 KOs), 37, of Puerto Rico, tried to make the fight a brawl in round 1. He got inside of Herring’s reach and forced a series of ugly clinches. He mixed in some shots, but nothing dramatic. Oquendo was fighting his fight and made Herring uncomfortable.

Herring settled down in round 2. He used his jab well and kept the shorter Oquendo at a distance. He was also working on his timing.

In round 3, Oquendo continued to rush Herring without setting up his jab and no head movement. That proved to be a mistake.

As Oquendo lept towards Herring, Herring caught him with a counter left uppercut that dropped Oquendo. Oquendo got up and kept pressing the action but ate two more left uppercuts in what turned into a dominant round for Herring.

In round 5, Oquendo and Herring clashed heads, which opened up a cut over Herring’s right eye. Referee Tony Weeks ruled it an intentional headbutt by Oquendo, which proved to make all the difference in this fight. He deducted a point from Oquendo, but the ruling of it being intentional was the primary factor.

Herring’s eye started to bleed in round 8 badly. During multiple clinches with Oquendo, Herring winced, often showing extreme discomfort.

After the round, a doctor examined Herring’s eye, and Herring repeatedly said, “I can’t see.”

That’s where things got confusing.

Jamel Herring looked great at the start of his fight with Jonathan Oquendo, but things got rough, and his eye was severely damaged.

Under the unified rules, the fight should have been declared a disqualification victory for Herring because the fight was stopped due to an intentional foul. Weeks made that call, but Nevada State Athletic Commissioner Bob Bennett tried to say that the scorecards had to decide the winner.

Bennett would have been correct if it were an accidental headbutt, but it wasn’t. Minutes went by as more discussions took place, and eventually, the right call of disqualification was made, and Herring was declared the winner.

During the post-fight interview, Herring wasn’t pleased with his performance.

“It just got ugly,” said Herring. “I wasn’t too satisfied with my performance, to be honest with you.”

Commentators Andre Ward and Timothy Bradley weren’t happy with how Herring handled the end of the contest. They felt that he chose to opt-out of the end of the fight because he was starting to wilt down the stretch. They thought that he felt pressure and wanted to get out rather than continue fighting.

“He gave up,” said Bradley of Herring.

Rumors are swirling of a future bout between Herring and former champion Carl Frampton. Ward and Bradley’s words will resonate, and many will feel Herring doesn’t have what it takes to defeat Frampton. This fight revealed more questions than answers.