Nine months ago, Dalton Smith walked into Brooklyn’s Barclays Center as a live underdog and stopped Subriel Matias in the fifth round to become WBC super lightweight champion. On Saturday 24 October, he returns to his home city of Sheffield to make the first defence of that title — and the man waiting across the ring has already beaten every ranked opponent put in front of him bar one, and that one is the man Smith knocked out.
Alberto Puello is not here as a tune-up. He is a former two-time 140lb world champion, the WBC’s mandatory challenger, and a southpaw technical enough to have beaten Gary Antuanne Russell and Sandor Martin in title fights. Sheffield’s Utilita Arena will be packed and roaring for its local champion. Whether the crowd factor is enough to tip a close fight may define the entire night.
| Date | Saturday, 24 October 2026 |
| Venue | Utilita Arena Sheffield, Sheffield, England |
| Title | WBC World Super Lightweight Championship (140lb) |
| Rounds | 12 x 3 minutes |
| Promotion | Matchroom Boxing |
| Broadcast | DAZN (US & worldwide); DAZN Global (UK) |
| Broadcast begins | 7:00pm BST / 2:00pm ET / 11:00am PT |
| Ringwalks (approx) | 10:00pm BST / 5:00pm ET / 2:00pm PT |
Dalton “Thunder” Smith is a 29-year-old super lightweight from Sheffield, England. He turned professional in 2019, his debut arriving just a decade after he first tied on a pair of gloves in the local gym scene that the Steel City has always produced fighters from.
His record stands at 19 wins and no defeats, with 14 stoppages — a 74% knockout rate built almost entirely in British rings before the Matias fight relocated him to New York for one transformative night. He stands 5’9” with a 69.3” reach and fights from an orthodox stance.
The Matias win, a fifth-round TKO, was the clearest statement of Smith’s ceiling to date. Matias had previously beaten Puello (controversially, by majority decision) and had long been regarded as the most dangerous man in the division. Smith handled the pressure fighter’s aggression by timing him on the way in, leaning on him in the clinch and eventually landing the right hand that dropped and stopped Matias in round five. The stoppage followed an earlier cut to Smith’s eye — a detail that matters ahead of this fight, given what Puello has promised.
Prior to the title win, Smith’s form shows a 12-round unanimous decision over Mathieu Germain in Sheffield, a first-round TKO of Walid Ouizza, and a fifth-round knockout of Jose Zepeda in what was a significant scalp in the domestic super lightweight ranks.
Alberto “La Avispa” (The Wasp) Puello is 32 years old and from the Dominican Republic. He made his professional debut in 2015 and carries a record of 25 wins and 1 defeat, with 11 stoppages and a 44% knockout rate across 192 recorded professional rounds. He stands 5’9” with a 70.9” reach — a 1.6-inch reach advantage over Smith — and fights from a southpaw stance.
Puello has already held two versions of the 140lb world title. He won the WBA belt by outpointing Batyr Akhmedov on points in 2022, then stepped up again to beat Gary Antuanne Russell by split decision in June 2024 to claim the WBC interim belt. He then defended it with a split decision over Sandor Martin in March 2025 before losing the full WBC title to Matias by majority decision in July 2025.
That Matias loss was split from the judges — two saw it 115-113 for Matias, one had it 114-114. It was close enough that Puello can legitimately argue he remained competitive at the very top of the division. He followed it with a winning performance over Miguel Bolano in July 2026 as a stay-busy tune-up, and now returns to the biggest stage with the WBC belt in his sights again.
The threat Puello poses is stylistic as much as it is physical. He does not come forward with Matias-style recklessness. He fights behind a long southpaw jab, controls distance from the outside, steps laterally off the back foot, and makes pressure fighters look slow and flat-footed. He has also made an explicit threat about Smith’s vulnerability to cuts: “With the big head he has, I’m not going to miss a blow. It’s going to be very easy to mark him up,” he told The Ring. That is not empty trash talk from a man with a 44% finish rate — it is a tactical plan.
| Dalton Smith | Alberto Puello | |
|---|---|---|
| Age | 29 | 32 |
| Nationality | England | Dominican Republic |
| Record | 19-0-0 | 25-1-0 |
| KO wins | 14 (74%) | 11 (44%) |
| Height | 5’9” / 176cm | 5’9” / 175cm |
| Reach | 69.3” / 176cm | 70.9” / 180cm |
| Stance | Orthodox | Southpaw |
| Pro debut | 2019 | 2015 |
| Total pro rounds | 116 | 192 |
The numbers tell a story of contrasts. Smith is the younger, harder-hitting fighter with significantly less mileage — 116 professional rounds to Puello’s 192. Puello carries the reach edge, the experience edge and the title-level experience edge: he has held two world titles and appeared in at least four title bouts, while Smith has been in one. The question is whether that mileage works for Puello — as seasoning — or against him, given that he is three years older and has absorbed considerably more punishment in more sustained championship rounds.
| Date | Opponent | Result | Method | Rnd |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2026 | Subriel Matias | W | TKO | 5 |
| Apr 2025 | Mathieu Germain | W | UD | 12 |
| Jan 2025 | Walid Ouizza | W | TKO | 1 |
| Mar 2024 | Jose Zepeda | W | KO | 5 |
| Jul 2023 | Sam Maxwell | W | TKO | 7 |
| Date | Opponent | Result | Method | Rnd |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 2026 | Miguel Bolano | W | TKO | 4 |
| Jul 2025 | Subriel Matias | L | MD | 12 |
| Mar 2025 | Sandor Martin | W | SD | 12 |
| Jun 2024 | Gary Antuanne Russell | W | SD | 12 |
| Dec 2023 | Ector Madera | W | UD | 8 |
Smith has stopped 4 of his last 5 opponents. Puello has taken five championship rounds, three of them decided by a single judge’s card. The contrast is stark: one fighter ends things early, the other grinds out close points wins against elite competition and keeps his feet in the fire. That pattern tells you both men’s answers to the same question — and those answers are directly opposed.
The central question here is not whether Smith can hurt Puello — it is whether he can find him cleanly enough to make that power relevant. Puello is not Matias. He is not going to walk into Smith’s right hand and dare him to trade. He is going to stand just outside maximum range, fire the southpaw jab at an angle Smith has not often had to deal with, and step away the second Smith loads up.
For Smith, winning means controlling the distance early, using his own jab to disrupt Puello’s rhythm, and limiting the lateral movement with ring generalship. He needs to close the distance on his terms — not Puello’s — and when he does land, the power to create urgency.
For Puello, winning means not playing the role of static target. He needs to make this a 12-round chess match: accumulate rounds on the outside, negate the crowd advantage by staying composed, and mix the southpaw jab with accurate right hooks to the body that force Smith to lower his guard. The cut threat is real; if he can score around the eyes, the scorecards become irrelevant.
This fight was originally scheduled for June before Puello’s elbow injury forced a postponement. That elbow bears watching. A 32-year-old southpaw who relies on his jab has a vulnerability he carries into every round if the arm is not fully right.
Dalton Smith wins if:
Alberto Puello wins if:
Per DAZN Bet (odds correct as of 19 October), Smith is the favourite at 8/15, with Puello at 6/4 to cause the upset and the draw priced at 15/1.
Those odds are tighter than you might expect for a defending unbeaten champion on home soil. The market respects Puello’s résumé — and so should the analysis.
Smith enters this fight as the most dangerous man at 140 pounds on a given night, ranked No. 1 by The Ring. But he is 8 rounds of elite experience behind Puello at this level, and he is facing a different type of problem than any he has previously solved. Matias was tailor-made for Smith to look good: a pressure fighter who walked into his right hand. Puello is the opposite of that.
The prediction here is Dalton Smith on points, majority or unanimous decision. He has the home advantage, the power to keep Puello honest and honest enough as a boxer — he showed against Germain in a 12-round contest that he can win rounds at distance. Puello’s 5 of his last 6 wins have come on the judges’ cards; he fights not to lose. Smith fights to finish. That dynamic should produce a genuinely contested 12 rounds, with Smith doing enough in front of his Sheffield crowd to retain.
Pick: Dalton Smith UD 12
| Territory | Broadcaster | Broadcast begins | Ringwalks (approx) |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK | DAZN Global | 7:00pm BST | 10:00pm BST |
| US | DAZN | 2:00pm ET / 11:00am PT | 5:00pm ET / 2:00pm PT |
| Worldwide | DAZN | — | — |
DAZN is available via Smart TV, smartphone, tablet, Fire TV, Roku and web browser. UK subscribers on the Standard plan can access the fight; it is also included on DAZN Ultimate.
Saturday’s show is stacked with domestic and European title action. Also on the card at Utilita Arena Sheffield:
Boxing Data has full fight and fighter data across every bout on the card.
When is Dalton Smith vs Alberto Puello? Saturday, 24 October 2026 at Utilita Arena Sheffield. Ringwalks are expected around 10:00pm BST / 5:00pm ET.
Where can I watch Smith vs Puello in the UK? Live on DAZN Global. The broadcast begins at 7:00pm BST.
Where can I watch Smith vs Puello in the US? Live on DAZN. The US broadcast begins at 2:00pm ET.
What title is on the line? The WBC World Super Lightweight Championship (140lb). Smith is defending the belt he won from Subriel Matias in January 2026. Puello is the WBC’s mandatory challenger.
Has Puello fought for a world title before? Yes — twice. He won the WBA super lightweight title in 2022 by beating Batyr Akhmedov and later won the WBC interim title by beating Gary Antuanne Russell in June 2024. He lost the WBC belt by majority decision to Subriel Matias in July 2025.
What is Dalton Smith’s record? 19 wins, 0 losses, with 14 stoppages (74% KO rate).
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