Subriel Matias is focused on Saturday’s opponent, Dalton Smith, and not the words of promoter Eddie Hearn, ahead of his first defense of the WBC junior welterweight title.
Matias will face Smith in a 12-round title fight at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
“Where have the Puerto Ricans gone?” Hearn said at Thursday’s fight-card press conference. “I think we will have more Brits in there on Saturday night than there will be Puerto Ricans, and I bet you we make more noise as well.”
Matias, 23-2 (22 KOs), knows Hearn well. He was promoted by Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing in 2024. The deal lasted exactly one fight. After Matias lost his IBF title to Liam Paro, he wouldn’t be featured on a Matchroom card again.
“My enemy, my opponent, is not Eddie Hearn – it is Dalton,” Matias said at the press conference via a translator. “[Hearn] can say whatever he wants, but if he were a fighter, your face would be smashed.”
Hearn quickly retorted, “Thank God I am not a fighter.”
Matias in July defeated Alberto Puello by majority decision to become a two-time junior welterweight titleholder. Matias’ promoter, Fresh Productions, headed by Juan Orengo, outbid Matchroom Boxing to win the purse bid in September and become lead promoter of the show – a shock at the time, as Matchroom Boxing has a broadcast deal with DAZN.
“We thought we were going to Puerto Rico,” Hearn said. “So we are even happier to be in New York, but we would have gone to Timbuktu. It doesn’t matter.”
Still, Hearn couldn’t resist stirring the pot and tweaking Matias’ Puerto Rican fans.
“They may have deserted Subriel,” Hearn said. “We don’t know, obviously. We have had a lot of ups and downs. On Saturday night, justice shall be served.”
Hearn clarified that “justice” would be represented by Smith winning the world title.
A win would secure Smith, 18-0 (13 KOs), his first major belt. A 28-year-old from Sheffield, England, he most recently fought Mathieu Germain in April, winning a unanimous decision at Park Community Arena in Sheffield. Smith will be fighting outside Europe for the first time but may draw a crowd from overseas.
Matias, meanwhile, was prompt in addressing his own supporters in response to Hearn’s comments.
“It is on my back to back you up,” he said. “After the fight, I will have something to say.”
And if Smith ultimately receives a better turnout at the Barclays than Matias, as Hearn suggested?
“Even if that is the case,” Matias said, “that is not going to change the result.”
Lucas Ketelle is the author of “Inside the Ropes of Boxing,” a guide for young fighters, a writer for BoxingScene and a member of the Boxing Writers Association of America. Find him on X at @BigDogLukie.
