Jamel William Herring (born October 30, 1985) is an American former professional boxer who held the

WBO The World Boxing Organization (WBO) is an organization which sanctions professional boxing bouts. It is recognized by the International Boxing Hall of Fame (IBHOF) as one of the four major world championship groups, alongside the World Boxing ...

junior lightweight title from 2019 to 2021. As of November 2020, he is ranked as the world's fourth best active junior lightweight by '' The Ring'' and the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and ninth by

BoxRec BoxRec or boxrec.com is a website dedicated to holding updated records of professional and amateur boxers, both male and female. It also maintains a MediaWiki-based encyclopaedia of boxing. The objective of the site is to document every profess ...

Personal life

Jamel Herring was born in

Rockville Centre, New York Rockville Centre, commonly abbreviated as RVC, is an incorporated village located in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 24,023 at the 2010 census. Histo ...

to Michael Mitchell and Jeanine Herring. His mother remarried to Harry Elliby. He was raised in Coram, New York in its Gordon Heights neighborhood. While a sophomore at

Longwood High School Longwood Central School District covers in central Brookhaven Town, Suffolk County, New York, United States. It serves the hamlets of Ridge, Gordon Heights, Middle Island, Coram, and Yaphank, and parts of Shoreham, Shirley, Medford, an ...

, Jamel began boxing in 2001 when his soon to become trainer Austin Hendrickson invited him to the boxing gym for workouts. Herring enlisted in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

in October 2003 at

Parris Island Parris is both a given name and surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name * Parris Afton Bonds, American novelist * Parris Campbell (born 1997), American football player * Parris Duffus (born 1970), retired American ice hockey go ...

, South Carolina. He has served two tours of duty in Iraq and was based in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where he earned the rank of Sergeant. Jamel has six children: Kamren Herring (2004), Stephen Herring (2007), Ariyanah Herring (2009), Jamel Herring Jr. (2010), Jazmyne Herring (2013), and Justice Herring (2017). His daughter Ariyanah died July 27, 2009, from

SIDS Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the sudden unexplained death of a child of less than one year of age. Diagnosis requires that the death remain unexplained even after a thorough autopsy and detailed death scene investigation. SIDS usual ...

. The opening ceremony of the

2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

was the 3rd anniversary of her death. Jamel married his childhood friend Jennifer Dickerson-Herring on September 26, 2015.

Amateur career

Herring began training in 2001. He suffered his first amateur loss to Daniel Jacobs on July 20, 2002 during the New York Junior Olympics Finals. Herring had to balance training as a boxer with his duties as an active

United States Marine The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

. He was deployed to

Fallujah Fallujah ( ar, ٱلْفَلُّوجَة, al-Fallūjah, Iraqi pronunciation: ) is a city in the Iraqi province of Al Anbar, located roughly west of Baghdad on the Euphrates. Fallujah dates from Babylonian times and was host to important Jew ...

, Iraq in 2005. After he returned he immediately tried out for the All Marine Corps boxing team in January 2006. While on the team, Herring competed all over the national scene and even fought against former world champion

Jesse Vargas Jessie Vargas (born May 10, 1989) is an American professional boxer. He is a former world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBA (Regular) and IBO super lightweight titles in 2014, and the WBO welterweight title in 2016. As of Aug ...

at the 2006 National PAL tournament. He was deployed again in 2007 to Al Taqaddum. Shortly after his return, he went back to the All Marine Corps boxing team in Camp Lejeune,

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. From early 2008, he would be trained under Ron Simms, Reuben Woodruff, and Narcisco Aleman. Simms would eventually be replaced by former All Army coach and 1996 USA Olympic Assistant coach Jesse Ravelo. Herring won a silver medal at the 2010 World Military Games and took a gold medal at the 2011 and 2012 Armed Forces Championships while a Sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. Trained under Ravelo, Woodruff, and Aleman, Jamel would win gold in the 2012 Olympic Trials defeating multiple nationals champions. In the first round of the tournament he defeated Tommy Duquette, Mike Reed in the second round, Pedro Sosa in the semi finals, and in the finals he defeated Pedro Sosa again. He would eventually move on to the 2011 AIBA World Championships but lost in a close contest in the first round, forcing him to fight for his spot again at the 2012 USA Boxing Nationals. After winning the Nationals, he went on to compete in the Americas Qualifiers where he would win a bronze medal and earn a slot at the 2012 games. Herring qualified for the

2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. Jamel, along with the entire US boxing team, only had two weeks prior to the games to train together as a complete team. He was the only United States Marine to compete at the London Olympics and the first active duty marine to qualify for the US boxing team since 1992.

Professional career

After returning from the London games, Herring made the decision to finish out his service with the United States Marine Corps and become a professional boxer. He relocated from Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, to

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

to work with Mike Stafford. In May 2019, he became a world champion by defeating Masayuki Ito to win the WBO junior lightweight title. Herring outboxed Ito in front of the sold-out crowd, winning almost every round of the fight on two judges' scorecards, and 66 percent of the rounds on the third judge's. Scorecards were 118-110, 118-110 and 116-112 in favor of Herring. In his first title defense, Herring faced Lamont Roach Jr. Herring boxed well through most of the fight, but Roach Jr was far from an easy opponent. Herring was almost dropped by Roach Jr in the ninth round, but managed to recover just before the bell. In the end, he had done enough to earn the unanimous decision win, 117-111 twice and 115-113 on the scorecards. His second title defense came against

Jonathan Oquendo Jonathan Oquendo Arnaldi (born August 3, 1983) is a Puerto Rican professional boxer who has challenged twice for a world title: the WBA (Regular) featherweight title in 2015, and the WBO junior lightweight title in September 2020. He has held m ...

, on September 5, 2020, after two previously canceled dates, both because Herring tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Herring was in control during the fight, and was landing the more effective shots. Herring managed to drop Oquendo in the third round. The aggressive Oquendo was going head first in multiple occasions during the fight, which ultimately resulted in a cut above Herring's eye. Herring was not able to continue after the eighth round and his corner decided he is unable to continue. In September 2020, it was announced that Herring had signed a contract with management and promotions company

MTK Global MTK Global (Mack The Knife Global) was a boxing and mixed martial arts management and event promotions company founded by Irish crime boss Daniel Kinahan and former professional boxer Matthew 'Mack the Knife' Macklin. Originally established in 201 ...

, with the company taking an advisory role. Herring said of the decision, "I'm very excited about this next step in my career. I know that by adding MTK Global as an advisor along with Brian McIntyre as my manager, I have the strongest team in the game." On April 3, 2021, Herring defeated former two-division champion Carl Frampton in

Dubai Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...

, United Arab Emirates via sixth-round technical knockout to retain his WBO title. Herring's victory over Frampton would ultimately be the last fight of the latter's career, who retired soon after. Herring lost his title in his subsequent fight on October 23, 2021 against undefeated former WBO featherweight champion Shakur Stevenson, when he was defeated via tenth-round technical knockout. Herring was behind on all three judges' scorecards at the time of the stoppage. He retired in May 2022.

Professional boxing record

References

External links