On the evening of November 4, 1917, Herman was married to Annie LeBlanc, whom he had known since he was a child in New Orleans. The following day Herman defeated Frankie Burns in a twenty-round points decision at Louisiana Auditorium in New Orleans in what a few sources considered a title bout. Herman was scheduled to have reported for service in the US Army after the bout. Herman did not have great difficulty amassing enough points to win the bout. Burns had a difficult time in the first three rounds and was staggered by Herman in the second. Burns may have evened the fighting in the seventeenth round. Herman had previously suffered a thirteenth-round technical knockout from burns in November 1914 in the same city. Herman did not box from late December until May 1918, and may have been in military training. In March 1918, the US Navy refused Herman furloughs to box until he had achieved three months of active duty.