The long-awaited battle between Jamel Herring and Carl Frampton has hit another hurdle.

Herring and Frampton were due to meet on February 27 in London. However, according to Steve Kim, who first reported the story, the latter suffered a hand injury and will be sidelined for two weeks, thus postponing the fight once more.

Herring-Frampton was first postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic last year. The British Boxing Board of Control then suspended all events through January of this year due to a spike in COVID-19 cases but cleared the way for events to be staged in February.

The junior lightweight title tilt is now targeted for March 27 at a location to be determined.

The news comes as the WBO last month permitted Herring (22-2, 10 KOs) to make a voluntary defense of his title against Frampton, with the condition that the winner face former featherweight titlist and 2016 Olympic bronze medalist Shakur Stevenson (15-0, 8 KOs) next.

This is just the latest hand injury for Belfast’s Frampton (28-2, 16 KOs), who has won titles at 122 and 126 pounds. The 33-year-old was due to make his 130-pound debut in an Aug. 2019 ESPN+ main event against Mexico’s Emmanuel Dominguez until a hotel lobby pillar collapsed on his left hand during fight week in a freak accident.

The 35-year-old Herring (22-2, 10 knockouts), who claimed the WBO title by outpointing Masayuki Ito in May 2019, overcame two positive COVID tests before winning via eighth-round disqualification against Puerto Rico’s Jonathan Oquendo in September.

Herring, who hails from Coram, New York, suffered a cut and a scratched cornea from a multitude of headbutts that nixed any plans for the southpaw to face Frampton in the fourth quarter of 2020.

Attempts to reach Herring were unsuccessful at time of publication.