Jamel Herring retained his WBO junior lightweight title with a stunning six-round victory over Carl Frampton in Dubai.

Frampton was hoping to become Ireland’s first three-weight world champion but was down twice before being stopped after 1:40 of a gruelling Round 6.

The Irishman was close to tears afterwards and announced that he won’t be seen in a boxing ring again.

“I’m deeply upset,” he said. “I wanted nothing more than to dedicate this fight to by first amateur coach Billy Walsh [who recently passed away]. I said before I would retire if I lost and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. I just want to go home to my beautiful wife and kids and dedicate my life to them.”

Frampton, who turned 34 in February, is now 28-3 (16 KOs).

“I just got beat by the better man,” he added. “I struggled to get inside him, he was sharp-shooting from distance. I had a great camp and I just got beat by the better man.”

Herring, who is rated No. 4 by The Ring, was elated and said that while he wanted to move up in weight, he would also like to unify at 130 pounds and challenge for The Ring’s title, calling on editor-in-chief Doug Fischer to make it happen.

“He [Frampton]’s always been one of my favourite fighters,” said Herring. “It was an honour. God bless you, Carl. I always wanted to get another title. I know Oscar Valdez has expressed an interest in fighting.”

The tall, rangy, southpaw titleholder started well. Frampton looked like he was waiting for openings and was reluctant to get untracked.

However, Herring really seemed to take control towards the end of Round 2, finding a home for a couple of strong left hands and although Frampton had his moments in the third, Herring was able to keep the distance and largely controlled the pace of the fight.

Frampton briefly got a foothold in Round 4. The American was cut by the right eye, possibly from a left hook, and with blood flowing from the wound on the champion’s eyelid, Frampton honed in with left hooks.

And Frampton upped the pressure in the fifth but walked on to a straight left and suddenly found himself on the canvas.

The Irishman fell short with some of his subsequent attacks and Herring started to work downstairs, landing shots to Frampton’s body.

Then the fight changed irreversibly in Herring’s favour.

With more than 90 seconds left in the sixth Frampton was down again, this time from a left uppercut. The former two-weight world champ listened to the count on his knees and rose to fight on.

Herring moved in and fired with both hands, landing plenty and forcing Frampton’s corner, which included Jamie Moore, Nigel Travis and Kerry Kayes, to send in the towel to call it off.

In the chief-support, Filipino Donnie Nietes won a 10-round decision over Colombian Pablo Carrillo. It was Nietes’ first fight in 27 months and he won by scores of 99-91, 98-92 and 96-95. Nietes turns 39 this year and is a four-weight world titleholder and he’s now 43-1-5 (23 KOs). Carrillo is 25-8-1 (16 KOs).

READ THE MARCH ISSUE OF THE RING FOR FREE VIA THE NEW APP NOW. SUBSCRIBE NOW TO ACCESS MORE THAN 10 YEARS OF BACK ISSUES.