Exclusive: Eddie Hearn Warns Dalton Smith He May Need to Sacrifice to Bring World Title Fight to Sheffield

Dalton Smith has been warned he could be forced to make sacrifices in order to secure a world title fight in his home city of Sheffield.

The former British, Commonwealth and European champion is the mandatory challenger for the WBC belt, which is currently held by Alberto Puello of the Dominican Republic.

Having defended his title by beating Sandor Martin earlier this year, Puello must either face Smith or vacate his belt if he overcomes Subrial Matias this summer. 

Smith, who preserved his unblemished professional record by cruising past Mathieu on points last month, is determined to face Puello in South Yorkshire.

PLANS TO PINCH

Speaking exclusively to SportsBoom, Smith’s promoter Eddie Hearn outlined how he plans to pinch Puello to England if, as expected, he overcomes Matias.

“You have to pay up and that’s really how it works,” Hearn, the chairman of Matchroom Boxing, said. 

“We’ll look at whether they (Puello’s camp) want to do it in the USA and they probably won’t. So then they’ll ask how much money we are willing to pay to bring them here.”

“We’ll sit down and try to make the numbers work with DAZN, who are our broadcast partners,” Hearn continued. 

“Then we’d go to Dalton and say ‘This is the purse you’ve got to take to make sure they make sense." 

"It might be what he’d like or it might be a little bit less. But if that’s what it takes to get them here then that’s what he'll have to do."

“If Puello doesn’t agree then it's going to get mandated and go down to purse bids. In that situation, it’s effectively who bids the most.”

Aged 28, Smith has won both of his fights since recovering from an injury which kept him out of the ring for nearly 12 months. 

Diagnosed with a neck problem following a breakthrough victory over Jose Zepeda at Sheffield Arena - where Hearn envisages any future bout against Puello will be staged - he demolished Walid Ouizza inside a round before cruising to a decision when Germain, of Canada, travelled to the Canon Medical Arena last month.

EXPECTING TO PREVAIL

Located only a short walk away from his gym in Darnall, spectators arrived at the venue expecting Smith to prevail in the same emphatic fashion which proved too hot for Ouizza to handle. 

Although his performance against Germain was less than convincing, Hearn believes that could work to Smith’s advantage when it comes to forcing Puello’s hand.

“Dalton was looking to get some rounds in, because that’s something he’s been lacking after coming back,” Hearn said. 

“But I still think it was solid, if not spectacular. That doesn’t matter, though, because Dalton is still ranked where he is and that isn’t going to change."

“Who knows? Puello might look at that and think ‘Yeah, we’ll take that one quickly now. He’s done that in the past with people and it’s not uncommon in our sport.”

“I genuinely believe Dalton is going to become a world champion and we’ll be doing everything we can to make sure that happens in Sheffield, where the people always come out to get behind him.”