Jamel Herring is ready to fight Shakur Stevenson but is focused on his fight with Carl Frampton first.
The WBO super featherweight champion will fight the Northern Irishman on Saturday night in Dubai, marking his return to the ring following his September 2020 bout against Jonathan Oquendo.
The 35-year-old American has overcome a coronavirus infection in the meantime and he told DAZN’s Ak & Barak that it has been a difficult period between fights.
“I’m in a good place. It feels like jumping off Hell and back to get to this fight,” he said.
“Just to be in fight week, within reaching distance of this fight, I’m definitely feeling good, more mentally but physically as well.”
Shakur Stevenson has discussed a potential fight with Herring recently and it is a fight that Herring would entertain, though he is making sure that he does not suffer defeat against Frampton first.
“I might vacate - Shakur is another guy who would pose a great fight. We’ll have to wait and see, I have to get past this dude first.
“He’s a young fighter, he wants to fight everyone. A fighter like that is a dangerous fighter.”
Herring believes that he has “three or four” more fights left in his career and he hopes to make his mark either at 130lbs or the lightweight division.
“I just want to grab another tile at 130, 135, that’s my main goal. There’s a lot of moving pieces going around. There's still a lot of great fights to be made," he said.
"I definitely deserve a shot if I stop a guy like Frampton, but I know what boxing is like, sometimes you need to play the political game. For now I need to get this guy.
“If I can still maintain and live correctly I could still be strong at 130, 135 is not an easy weight class there’s some dogs out there, you got to come in there correctly.”
Herring also suggested that Oscar Valdez - WBC super featherweight champion - is on his list for his handful of remaining fights, noting that being lineal champion means more at a time when there are numerous belts in every division.
“You know there are too many titles in boxing. In order to stand out you need to unify.” he said.
“You always have the argument about who is the real champion. My goal has always been to be the lineal champion, which is why I mentioned Oscar Valdez.”