Dalton Smith Wants Shakur Stevenson After Puello Defense

Dalton Smith has not even defended his WBC light welterweight title yet, but the unbeaten Englishman is already eyeing the biggest name at 140 pounds.

Smith told the Boxing World YouTube channel that he wants a unification bout with Shakur Stevenson, calling it exactly the kind of fight he got into boxing to make. "I'm boxing to be a part of the biggest fights possible," Smith said. "I'd love to be a part of that."

First things first, though. Smith faces Alberto Puello on October 24 at Utilita Arena Sheffield in his first defense of the WBC belt he won in January by stopping Subriel Matias inside five rounds in his U.S. debut. Puello brings a 25-1 record with 11 knockouts and a tricky southpaw style that Smith says he is not overlooking.

"But of course, I have to get through Puello first," Smith said. He added that after the Puello fight he wants to be "chasing the biggest fights possible."

The problem is not Smith's ambition. It is the business. Stevenson is signed with Zuffa Boxing and streams on Paramount+, while Smith is a Matchroom flagship fighter locked into DAZN. That promotional and network divide makes any crossover fight extremely difficult to arrange, and Zuffa has little incentive to share the event or loan out its biggest name at the weight.

Smith enters the Puello fight at 19-0 with 14 knockouts. The 27-year-old from Sheffield has quickly established himself as one of the top talents at light welterweight and his stoppage of Matias announced him as a legitimate force in the division. Whether the business side of boxing lets him get the fight he wants is another question entirely.