The trainer responsible for ending Subriel Matias’ first reign as world champion has warned Dalton Smith that he will need to be particularly disciplined if Matias is to be dethroned again.
Smith on Saturday challenges the WBC junior-welterweight champion at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, and on the occasion of his first fight for a world title is confronting his biggest test.
Matias, 33, is making his first defence of the title he won in July from Alberto Puello to re-establish himself towards the top of his competitive weight division. As the Puerto Rican fighting an Englishman he has also been presented with “home” advantage in New York.
It was Liam Paro who in 2024 defeated Matias when Matias was the IBF champion, and largely because of the discipline he demonstrated throughout 12 often one-sided rounds.
Paro has since moved up to welterweight but the victory over Matias remains his finest, and his trainer Alfie Di Carlo has continued to monitor his former weight division and believes that the 28-year-old Smith must perform similarly if he is to win.
“If you fight his fight he’s a very dangerous man – there’s no doubt about it,” Di Carlo told BoxingScene. “The guys who tried to box with him before have all fallen short.
“He was labelled ‘The Boogeyman’; one of the most feared guys in all of boxing, not just the 140lbs division. His strengths are his punching power – I don’t mean one-punch knockout power, I mean volume punching. The way he whips his punches in at a fast pace. That’s his strength, along with his engine. He previously come over the top of every other fighter, and made guys quit on their stool.
“Technically, I don’t think he’s the best. But his will; his hand speed; his motor, are all something that, unless you’ve prepared properly, and unless you’ve got that mental strength to go with him, you’re going to struggle with.
“His weaknesses are his technical boxing ability. I don’t think he’s got the best feet. The game plan for Liam was his ability to keep volume punching with him but keep Matias turning around. He’s really gotta set his feet to go, so if you’re able to keep turning him around with really good lateral movement, he struggles to keep up. In saying that, the only person who’s been able to do that for 12 rounds is Liam Paro. You’ve had great fighters, [in 2021, Batyrzhan] Jukembayev, who come out bombing with him but just didn’t have the engine and the ability to go with that same tactic for 12 rounds – they could do it for four or five. Can you do it for 12 with Matias? That’s the reality.
“Dalton’s a genuine fighter. [But] he hasn’t been tested yet. Liam was in that same boat. ‘How do these guys respond with top-quality opposition under pressure?’. That’s what we don’t know about Dalton yet, and he has the opportunity to show the world how good he is. This is his opportunity to show the world how good he is. He’s a good fighter – this is his chance to prove that he can do that under pressure against a big name in a big fight.
“He needs to stay neat. He can box pretty well. But most people come unstuck with Matias trying to take him out. Paro sort of gave him the blueprint of what to do. In the same way, Puello – at times they got caught fighting but Puello is a beautiful boxer and that’s where Matias struggles at times, keeping up with the boxers. Dalton’s going to have to box nice and clean for 12 rounds and be able to go with Matias ‘cause there will be times when Matias gets that opportunity to unleash and it’s whether you’re calm and confident enough to stick to the game plan rather than falling into the trap of trying to fight Matias.
“[Smith’s] weakness is his inexperience. He can prove everybody wrong with that in this fight. But he’s pretty well fought the majority [of his career] domestically, in the comfort of his own country. He’s away from his comfort zone, and Matias has done this many times, in many world titles. His biggest weakness is the fact he hasn’t been in big fights. He’s been in domestic fights in the comfort of his backyard; [it’s] whether he can step up against a genuine guy, ‘cause Matias is a genuine guy.”
Paro – who on January 16 had been scheduled to fight Paddy Donovan in an eliminator for the IBF welterweight title held by Lewis Crocker until illness forced Donovan’s withdrawal – weakened Matias’ reputation. When the Puerto Rican then struggled in victory over Puello it was even more widely suggested that he is in decline.
Di Carlo, regardless, doesn’t agree with those assertions. He instead more simply believes that both Paro and Puello represent the nature of opponents against which Matias will forever struggle to perform to his best.
“After the Paro fight the shine came off Matias a little bit,” the trainer continued. “‘Maybe he’s not the killer we thought.’ But Liam employed the perfect tactics for 12 rounds to be able to do that. In the last fight that Matias had with Puello, he didn’t look the same Matias we’ve seen in the past, but I think that’s more about what his opponent’s doing rather than what Matias was doing. Puello’s a genuine fighter as well – a boxer. Very technical.
“If Dalton can stay clean and box I think he’ll do well. But there’ll be times he’s gotta pull everything out to go with Matias to find his way back to his game plan. At times you’re gonna have to fight your way, but not fight for too long. You’ve really got to stick to your game plan for the majority of the fight.
“Because of Dalton’s inexperience and being out of the comfort of his own backyard, and Matias’ extended experience at the highest level, I can see Dalton falling into the trap of trying to fight. It’s a very good fight. But I do think Matias will come over the top. In the later rounds we’ll see Matias do his thing. I don’t think we’ve seen the best version of Matias in the last fight, but I think that was a factor of what was in front of him, and I don’t think Dalton’s as good a boxer as Puello.”
Declan Warrington has been writing about boxing for the British and Irish national newspapers since 2010. He is also a long-term contributor to Boxing News, Boxing News Presents and Talksport, and formerly the boxing correspondent for the Press Association, a pundit for BoxNation and a regular contributor to Boxing Monthly, Sport and The Ring, among other publications. In 2023, he conducted the interviews and wrote the script for the audio documentary “Froch-Groves: The Definitive Story”; he is also a member of the BWAA.
