Dalton Smith earned the right to enjoy a victory lap – but not the right to name his next opponent.

The unbeaten Smith, of Sheffield, UK, claimed the WBC 140lbs title with a spectacular fifth-round knockout of Subriel Matias on Saturday evening at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the win came an inherited mandatory defense against former titleholder Alberto Puello, per a prior ruling from the sanctioning body. 

Fittingly, Smith, 19-0 (14 KOs), finds himself in the very predicament the boxer he just defeated had confronted. 

Matias, 23-3 (22 KOs), wrested away the WBC title in a tightly contested, majority decision win over Dominican Republic’s Puello last July 12 in Queens, New York. The voluntary title fight was approved by the WBC, on the condition that the winner would be expected to immediately enter negotiations with Smith, who was the mandatory challenger at the time. 

Puello, 24-1 (10 KOs), and his team filed an appeal in hopes of an immediate rematch, given the competitive nature of the fight and the argument that he deserved the verdict. The request was denied but not dismissed; the WBC instead called for back-to-back mandatory title fights – Matias to face Smith, and for Puello to get the winner, without exception.

Matias-Smith went to a purse bid hearing, won by Fresh Productions, Matias’ promoter – which outbid Matchroom Boxing. The development functionally removed any hope of the fight landing on the originally targeted and Turki Alalshikh-funded Ring IV card last November 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

Matchroom still wound up in control of the title following Smith’s knockout victory. However, the promoter is not in control of its own fight as it relates to booking any sought-after, high-profile first title defense for Smith.

BoxingScene has previously confirmed that Puello’s team has every intention of enforcing his right as the mandatory challenger, without interruption.

Jake Donovan is an award-winning journalist who served as a senior writer for BoxingScene from 2007-2024, and news editor for the final nine years of his first tour. He was also the lead writer for The Ring before his decision to return home. Follow Jake on X and Instagram.