Dalton Smith Wants Shakur Stevenson: 'I'm Going to Beat Him'

Dalton Smith isn't shy about who he wants next. The unbeaten WBC super-lightweight champion, 19-0 with 14 knockouts, has told talkSPORT that a 2027 unification with WBO titleholder Shakur Stevenson is a fight he'd grab with both hands — and one he's fully convinced he wins. Stevenson himself sits at 25-0 (11 KO), fresh off a January decision over Teofimo Lopez that made him a four-division world champion.

There's a catch, though. Before Smith can start booking flights to Vegas, he has to get past Alberto Puello on October 24 in a mandatory defence. Puello, ranked #3 at 140lbs with a 25-1 (11 KO) record, is coming off a majority-decision loss to Subriel Matías — the same Matías that Smith stopped inside five rounds to lift his belt back in January. Both men, in other words, beat the same fighter; only one did it emphatically.

Why the Fight Makes Sense

Smith framed it in nostalgic terms, saying a clash with Stevenson would roll the clock back to the Ricky Hatton-Floyd Mayweather era of a British fighter chasing a marquee American name. He was quick to layer on respect too, noting he's known Stevenson since the amateurs and that the pair have always traded praise. But the bottom line was blunt: Smith said he holds a big belief that he'd beat him, whether that happens in the UK or in Las Vegas.

The problem is timing and geography. Stevenson signed a multi-fight deal with Dana White's Zuffa Boxing earlier this year, and since then he's gone quiet. No opponent, no date, no venue for what everyone assumes will be a 2026 outing. For a man who just delivered arguably his career-best performance against Lopez, the silence is conspicuous.

The Catch Nobody's Talking About

There's also a real question over whether Stevenson even sticks around at 140. He still holds the WBO strap, but nothing suggests he's committed to defending it or campaigning at the weight long-term. If he moves, Smith's dream fight evaporates before it's negotiated.

For now, the sequence is simple. Smith handles Puello in October, keeps the 19-0 intact, and the pressure shifts to Stevenson to name a name — and a division. Talk is cheap until the WBO champion tells us what he's actually doing next.