Dalton Smith is putting Alberto Puello’s failed drug test back into the conversation before Saturday’s WBC light welterweight title defense in Sheffield. If the champion loses, an explanation beyond the boxing will already be circulating.

That doesn’t prove Smith is preparing an excuse. But his comments give a difficult first defense a moral storyline before either fighter throws a punch.

Smith called for lifetime bans for fighters who fail drug tests. Puello tested positive for clomiphene in 2023 and received a six-month suspension. The article reports no new failed test ahead of Saturday’s fight.

“I think it stinks. I’m well against it myself,” Smith said to BoxingScene. “But I went in there and proved last time, sometimes you need more than just steroids. I’ll do it for the fighters in the sport that are clean.”

That last sentence turns Smith’s title defense into something bigger than defending his belt. It casts him as fighting on behalf of clean boxers, with Puello’s past providing the backdrop.

Puello’s violation is legitimate history to discuss. It also cannot explain punches, missed opportunities, or lost rounds before they happen.

Smith has a boxing problem to solve here. Puello’s southpaw movement could make him a frustrating opponent for a champion coming off his fifth-round stoppage of Subriel Matias in January.

Matias gave Smith opportunities to meet him with hard shots. Puello could make him work much harder to find those openings. If Smith follows without cutting off the ring, he risks spending rounds pursuing a challenger who refuses to give him the fight he wants.

Smith and Eddie Hearn have ambitions for a Hillsborough Stadium event. Puello could spoil those plans through positioning, timing and making the champion miss.

“If anything, they need lifetime bans, don’t they? But it’s out of my hands,” Smith said.

Saturday’s performance is in his hands. Smith can hold strong views on drug penalties while still being expected to handle an awkward mandatory challenger.

If Puello wins, his work in the ring deserves to be the first subject discussed. Smith’s comments have already supplied another one.

Introducing a moral crusade into fight week sets up an immediate psychological cushion. If Dalton goes out there and gets outboxed, frustrated, or dropped, the post-fight discourse among his local base will not be about his inability to cut off the ring or solve Puello’s southpaw stance. The talk will instantly circle back to: Well, Puello should have never been in that ring anyway because of 2023.

It gives sympathetic observers a pre-packaged storyline to diminish Puello’s ring IQ and shield Smith from the harsh reality of being tactically exposed in his own backyard.

The fantasy of a lifetime ban is quite telling. If the WBC or sanctioning bodies had handed down a permanent ban, Puello would be out of the sport entirely. That would have cleared him off Smith’s mandatory radar, allowing Matchroom to steer Smith toward an easier, straight-line brawler or an accommodating voluntary defense where the Sheffield crowd gets their highlight-reel knockout without the sweat.

Puello represents the classic “high-risk, low-reward” assignment. He does not come forward recklessly like Subriel Matias did; he refuses to stand still, he is awkward, he fights out of the southpaw stance, and he makes opponents look clumsy. When a fighter starts preaching about how their opponent technically should not exist in the division just days before the opening bell, it reveals anxiety about the stylistic nightmare waiting for them.

It is far easier to argue Puello should not be legally permitted in the ring than it is to actually pin him down and beat him for twelve rounds.

Bob Arum has considered the commercial significance of a potential fight between Ryan Garcia and Floyd Mayweather, wondering how much money and interest it would realistically generate.

Despite initially emerging as little more than a rumour, the bizarre welterweight matchup is now seemingly being explored as a genuine option for Garcia – who says it has been ‘agreed’.

The 28-year-old is coming off a successful world title defence last month, scoring a second-round finish over Conor Benn to retain his WBC welterweight strap.

Prior to that, he had dethroned Mario Barrios with a unanimous decision victory after having lost by the same verdict against Rolando ‘Rolly’ Romero in May 2025.

To some extent, that sub-par performance might have had something to do with Garcia returning from a year-long doping suspension and sustaining a hand injury.

Now, though, the American appears to be firing on all cylinders and, at this stage in his career, has perhaps reached his athletic peak.

But rather than defend his title against a genuine world-ranked contender, Garcia has expressed his desire to face Mayweather – and attempt to scupper the 49-year-old’s iconic 50-0 record – in a fully-sanctioned contest.

Speaking with Fight Hub TVTop Rank promoter Arum said he views their possible fight as little more than a cash grab.

“Will people be interested in it? I don’t know. I know Floyd [allegedly] needs the money, because he’s p*ssed away tones of the money that he made.

“Will Garcia-Mayweather generate money? Yes. Will it generate enough money to satisfy these guys? I don’t know.

“I think there’ll be limited interest in a fight where you have a young guy, at the peak of his powers and boxing prowess, fighting an old man.”

Not only is Mayweather considered a strange choice of opponent, but it remains to be seen whether he is free to fight after being hit with a multi-million dollar lawsuit by CSI Sports.

Another day, another Zuffa signee losing his belt for shirking his responsibilities. WBO president Gustavo Olivieri announced that the sanctioning body has denied middleweight champion Denzel Bentley’s appeal for a voluntary defense, giving him 24 hours to commit to facing mandatory challenger Yoenli Hernandez.

Bentley (22-3-1, 18 KO) was the beneficiary of Janibek Alimkhanuly’s failed drug test and subsequent emigration to the super middleweight division, as the move elevated the interim belt he’d claimed against Endry Saavendra in April to the real deal. That came with conditions, namely a mandated showdown with Hernandez (11-0, 9 KO) that failed to produce a a contract.

As for who’ll fight Hernandez for it, Vito Mielnicki Jr sits behind him at no. 2, followed by an otherwise-occupied Tim TszyuMichael Zerafa (lmao), and Fiodor Czerkaszyn. We’ll let you know as soon as an enterprising bachelor steps up.