A POTENTIAL date has reportedly been put forward as Dalton Smith looks to dethrone Subriel Matias, the WBC world super-lightweight champion, on away soil later this year.
It was confirmed earlier this month that Smith, 18-0 (13 KOs), the WBC mandatory challenger, would travel to Puerto Rico after Team Matias won the purse bid for their ordered showdown.
As it happened, the champion’s promoter, Fresh Productions, submitted a particularly lofty offer of $1,900,000 to outscore Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, whose nonetheless substantial bid came in at $1,710,000.
Typically, the two combatants would divide the winning offer between them, with the champion taking the lion’s share on a 70-30 split, however the WBC has decided to introduce a slightly different approach for this fight.
With the sanctioning body taking a 10% cut, a bonus of $190,000 has been set aside for the winner of their clash which, according to ESPN journalist Salvador Rodriguez, has now been slated for November 29.
Taking to X in the small hours of this morning, Rodriguez reported: “November 29 [is being explored] for Subriel Matias’ return in [Puerto Rico].”
This will be only the second time that Smith has fought on away soil; his trip to Italy back in 2019 was hardly fitting of a bona fide ‘road warrior’.
Regardless of the location, though, it must be said that the Sheffield man, whose best win arrived against a faded Jose Zepeda last year, is entering by far the toughest test of his promising career.
Despite losing his IBF title to Liam Paro in 2024, Matias, 23-2 (22 KOs), immediately bounced back with two stoppage victories before toppling Alberto Puello in July.
And while many believe that Puello had done enough to edge a majority decision, and retain his WBC crown, Matais nonetheless came away from their encounter as a two-time world champion.
