DALTON SMITH isn’t getting carried away with being installed as the WBC super lightweight world title mandatory challenger.
The news was made official last week when Smith’s promoter Eddie Hearn posted the confirmation on social media. Current champion Albert Puello defends his title against Sandor Martin on March 1 as part of the Gervonta Davis-Lamont Roach undercard at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn.
WBC President Mauricio Sulaiman stated that the Puello-Martin winner will be allowed to make one voluntary defence before moving on to their mandatory challenger, Smith.
“It’s only a status,” said Smith when describing his mandatory position to Boxing News.
“The only time I’ll be happy is when I’m a world champion. Being mandatory for the title is great and I can’t thank my team enough.”
“I want to be back out towards the end of April,” he added.
“I want an opponent what’s going to put me in good stead to go into these world title fights and somebody who’s got something on the résumé.”
Smith’s last outing was a brief one. The 28-year-old from Sheffield became the European 140lbs champion after wiping out Walid Ouizza in one round. His 17th career victory also ended a 10-month absence from the ring. Meanwhile, Smith’s biggest UK rival, Adam Azim, returned for the first time in 2025 earlier this month with a ninth round stoppage win against the veteran former world champion Sergey Lipinets. Afterwards Azim had a few choice words for Smith in post-fight interviews which BN asked Smith a response for.
“I’m a little bit scared,” he replied sarcastically.
