By Tony Bellew
Former Cruiserweight World Champion
As undefeated British boxing star Dalton Smith prepares to step back into the ring this Saturday to defend his coveted WBC light-welterweight title against the Dominican Republic’s formidable Alberto Puello, the conversation surrounding his career has naturally evolved. Fresh off a career-defining, stunning victory over Subriel Matias in New York this past January, Smith is already widely regarded as one of the finest pound-for-pound operators in the United Kingdom. Yet, a crucial distinction remains in the fight game: the gap between being a brilliant, belt-holding athlete and capturing the imagination of the wider British public as a true household name.
Having navigated the treacherous waters of championship boxing myself, I know intimately what it takes to make that leap. During my own career, it was my old friend and rival David Haye who ultimately took my popularity to an entirely different stratosphere. Leading up to our fights, the prevailing narrative across the country was that I was walking into a devastating knockout. But the British sporting public has an enduring love affair with an underdog story. When I woke up the morning after my first victory over Haye, the landscape of my career had fundamentally transformed. Overnight, my profile had exploded to the point where grandmothers would stop me on the street just to tell me how much they wanted me to succeed. Everyone, it seemed, suddenly had an opinion.
For Smith, the formula requires a similar catalyst—a definitive domestic rival who can bridge the divide between dedicated boxing enthusiasts and the mainstream public. Looking across the current landscape of British boxing, a young fighter like Adam Azim stands out as the ideal candidate to fulfill that role. It is a rivalry that has been quietly simmering beneath the surface for years, and the prospect of staging a showdown between them at Sheffield Wednesday’s historic Hillsborough Stadium is the stuff of promotional dreams. It would unquestionably be a monumental event for British sport.
Before any grand stadium fights can materialize, however, Smith faces a massive hurdle this weekend in the form of Alberto Puello. Undervaluing an opponent of Puello’s caliber would be a critical mistake, and a defeat for Smith would deal a heavy blow to the momentum of British boxing, especially given that he represents one of the brightest and most promising lights in our sport today.
What Makes Smith So Special?
My familiarity with Dalton Smith dates back to his days shining on the Great Britain amateur squad. Honestly, I was quite surprised at the time when he chose not to stay amateur long enough to compete at the Olympic Games, as I fully believed he possessed the talent to secure a medal. But looking at where he is now, it is hard to argue with the trajectory of his professional journey.
Unlike some high-profile fighters who dominate headlines through outrageous trash-talking in the style of Tyson Fury or by generating persistent controversy like Derek Chisora, Smith takes a refreshingly different approach. He prefers to do his talking exclusively inside the squared circle, a professionalism and composure that commands immense respect.
He put that quiet confidence on full display when he traveled across the Atlantic to New York and decisively dethroned the much-feared Subriel Matias. On the morning of that fight, I actually spoke with promoter Eddie Hearn and told him straight away that Dalton was going to stop Matias. Eddie could barely believe my prediction at the time, but I was entirely convinced based on what I had seen in training and tactical understanding.
It was a phenomenal performance, but the underlying trait that truly makes Smith special is his uncanny sense of timing. He often reminds me of another exceptional Sheffield fighter of the past, Kell Brook. While Smith might not possess the absolute raw strength, explosive quickness, or blinding hand speed of some of his peers, he is a master technician who executes the fundamentals brilliantly. His greatest asset is his ability to catch incoming opponents right in the middle of an exchange, utilizing perfect, calculated timing to disrupt their rhythm.
Furthermore, I have immense admiration for his working relationship with his father and primary trainer, Grant Smith. Grant has shown the rare wisdom and humility to allow Dalton to travel and learn from various other coaches over the years. I have encountered plenty of boxing trainers in my time who would stubbornly refuse to bring in outside perspectives or temporary assistance. Grant, on the other hand, understands inherently that no single trainer holds a monopoly on boxing knowledge, and Dalton’s technical development has benefited enormously from that open-minded approach.
Puello Is Smith’s Toughest Fight Yet
Despite what some casual observers might think, people are significantly overlooking Alberto Puello, and doing so is exceptionally dangerous. Even though Matias previously handed Puello difficulties, I genuinely believe this upcoming bout represents the single toughest test of Dalton Smith’s professional career so far.
Puello is a southpaw fighter equipped with a phenomenal work rate and a remarkably durable chin. Throughout my observation of his career, I can scarcely recall an instance where he has been badly hurt or visibly compromised. At the same time, Puello is somewhat more accessible to hit than the average southpaw because he does not always utilize his orthodox-versus-southpaw stance to its absolute tactical advantage. In all honesty, I occasionally catch myself wishing I had faced a few more southpaws with those tendencies during my own career—though unfortunately, my path crossed with an elite southpaw named Oleksandr Usyk instead.
If there is any minor point of tactical concern for Smith heading into Saturday, it centers on his early work rate. He cannot afford to start slowly or risk finding himself trailing by four or five rounds on the judges’ scorecards in the early stages of the fight. He must approach every single round as an independent battle, resisting the temptation to recklessly hunt for a quick knockout. Instead, the game plan should be about going in there to systematically win eight, nine, or ten rounds through disciplined boxing.
Should Smith manage to pull off the feat of stopping Puello, I will regard him without hesitation as the absolute best fighter operating in that entire division. Even securing a hard-fought victory on points would stand as a brilliant and defining achievement.
Once this weekend is behind him, my advice to Smith would be to resist the temptation to immediately jump through weight divisions in frantic pursuit of big-name glamour fights. As the legendary Marvin Hagler famously demonstrated to the world, a fighter can cement their legacy by thoroughly and decisively dominating a single division. Smith should plant his flag at light-welterweight, focus on unifying all the available championship belts, and make the rest of the division come looking for him.
Smith-v-Azim Would Be Electric
Dalton has already realized his ultimate childhood dream of capturing a world title. No one can ever strip that green-and-gold WBC belt away from him; he is a part of boxing history.
I know he shares a profound personal dream of one day fighting at Hillsborough Stadium, and I can empathize with that ambition on a deeply emotional level. Winning the WBC world title at Goodison Park—the former home of my beloved Everton—was the lifelong ambition that drove my entire career, an unforgettable milestone I finally achieved by defeating Ilunga Makabu back in 2016. To recreate that kind of magic, however, Dalton needs the right dance partner to elevate a great fight into a truly special cultural moment that transcends the sport.
While there are plenty of elite names scattered across the global landscape who could provide a stern test, Adam Azim remains the most compelling domestic opponent for a multitude of reasons. There is simply no substitute for a genuine, high-stakes domestic rivalry to capture the public imagination, and the atmosphere inside a packed stadium would be nothing short of electric. You would have two top-tier British fighters putting their unbeaten records on the line, backed by a real personal and professional tension, with rival promoters Eddie Hearn and Ben Shalom trading verbal jabs throughout the build-up.
Azim possesses blistering hand speed—he is arguably the single quickest fighter in British boxing pound-for-pound today. Yet, as boxing history constantly reminds us, supreme timing almost always neutralizes raw speed, and that stylistic clash is precisely what makes a potential matchup between them so fascinating.
Ideally, I would love to see Azim capture a world title of his own in the near future, paving the way for a monumental unification clash against Smith. It is a pairing that possesses enough narrative depth and athletic brilliance to potentially evolve into a multi-fight trilogy.
First, however, overcoming Alberto Puello on Saturday evening is far from a formality, and Smith must maintain absolute focus on the immediate task at hand. Once that massive obstacle is cleared, the conversation can safely turn toward Adam Azim, Hillsborough Stadium, and the next chapter of British boxing history.
