The first significant fight of the new year is Brooklyn-bound.
BoxingScene has confirmed that the Subriel Matias-Dalton Smith WBC junior welterweight title fight will land at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The attractive matchup remains set for January 10, with the venue finalized and to be formally confirmed during a November 10 press conference on site.
Matias, 23-2 (22 KOs), will attempt the first defense of the WBC 140lbs belt he claimed in a hard-fought, majority decision win over previously unbeaten Alberto Puello. The bout took place as part of a loaded July 12 show in Queens, New York.
Confirmation of the venue for his mandatory title defense versus Smith, 18-0 (13 KOs), will now provide Puerto Rico’s Matias with a second straight fight in the greater New York City area.
The decision to head back east came in lieu of a planned hometown headliner.
Fresh Productions, Matias’ career-long promoter, won a purse bid to claim the rights to the ordered title fight. Plans at the time called for an island-flavored show in December and somewhere in P.R., to include Fresh boxers Alfredo Santiago, Jeyvier Cintron and former IBF 118lbs titlist Emmanuel Rodriguez.
The lineup will remain the same, even with the new destination.
Either way, Smith will fight for the first time in the U.S. and in his first career title fight.
The unbeaten contender first became a threat to the crown with a fifth-round knockout of former title challenger Jose Zepeda last March 23 in his hometown of Sheffield, England. His placement atop the WBC rankings was solidified after a 12-round, unanimous decision over previously unbeaten Mathieu Germain on April 19, also in Sheffield.
Smith has fought outside the UK just twice before as a pro but never outside of Europe.
Matias’ win over Puello came 13 months after the end of his IBF 140lbs title reign.
He held the belt from February 2023 through a June 2024 defeat to Liam Paro, ironically at home in Manati, P.R. The setback to Australia’s Paro was the first fight on home soil for Matias since 2019, only to end in disappointment.
Matias rebounded with knockout wins last November and earlier this March, both in P.R. He was poised to once again challenge for the IBF belt before the opportunity arose to challenge the Dominican Republic’s Puello for the WBC crown.
The title-lifting effort over Puello marked Matias’ only career victory to come via decision. He previously boasted a 100 percent knockout to win ratio, with his only distance fights having come in his lone two career defeats prior to July.
