Alberto Puello plans to test Dalton Smith’s accuracy and cut-prone skin on Saturday, when the WBC light welterweight champion makes his first defense at Sheffield’s Utilita Arena. Smith could have a difficult night if he cannot consistently find the skilled southpaw.

Puello (25-1, 11 KOs) brings a different style than Subriel Matias, whom Smith stopped in five rounds in January. Matias gave Smith opportunities to plant his feet and fire during their shootout. Puello is unlikely to offer the same opportunities.

“With the big head he has, I’m not going to miss a blow. It’s going to be very easy to mark him up,” Puello told The Ring.

That threat has some substance behind it. Smith has suffered cuts around his eyes during his career, including against Matias. Puello’s ability to land accurately could become an issue even without the punching power normally associated with a knockout threat.

The Eddie Hearn-promoted Smith (19-0, 14 KOs) needs to avoid spending rounds following Puello without getting his punches off. Coming through boxing in the Dominican Republic, Puello has been exposed to different styles, and he has the professional experience to change his approach when something stops working.

Against Matias, Smith was dealing with a one-track pressure fighter whose instinct is to walk in behind high earmuff defense and trade at point-blank range. That allowed Smith to tie him up on the inside, rough him up, lean on him, and time his short hooks in the clinch. Matias basically walked straight into Smith’s traps because he has zero interest in back-foot boxing.

Puello is the polar opposite. He is not going to march into Smith’s chest to give him free clinches or let Smith wrap him up. He fights behind a long, tricky southpaw jab, controls distance, and steps off to the sides the second an opponent tries to close the gap.

Hearn has matched Smith against guys who come forward, allowing him to use his heavy-handed throwback fighting style to bludgeon them. Against a pure mover with an awkward southpaw stance like Puello, that exact style can make a fighter look flat-footed, crude, and completely out of ideas over twelve rounds. Style-wise, Puello is a nightmare for him.

Puello lost his WBC 140-lb title to Matias by a controversial 12-round majority decision in July 2025. He now travels to the champion’s hometown intending to leave less room for debate.

“The way I do it is to win clearly and never deviate from that plan that I have,” Puello said.

He added that the cameras also recorded Smith allegedly “pushing past people to resume the incident, punching someone on the floor”.

Judge Gilbart adjourned the hearing until 28 November. Smith was told to be ready to enter his pleas on that date.

The fighter, nicknamed ‘Beefy’, was granted bail with conditions not to contact Nke or to enter Manchester, unless to attend court, or for appointments with his solicitor.

Judge Gilbart fixed a provisional trial date for the week commencing 15 March 2028.

Smith, now of Formby in Sefton, was due to make a comeback in a fight on 4 September in Finland, but pulled out due to a calf injury, according to reports.

Smith, one of four brothers who all boxed professionally and all won titles at British level, has fought some of the biggest names in the sport including a defeat to Saul ‘Canelo’ Alvarez.

More recently he fought British rival Chris Eubank Jr twice, defeating him in the first fight in January 2023, before suffering a defeat in the rematch eight months later.

Oleksandr Usyk could be involved in one of the “biggest fights in cruiserweight history”, just so long as he is willing to drop back down to 200lbs.

The 39-year-old has not fought at the weight since 2018, when he became the undisputed king by dethroning Murat Gassiev with a wide points victory.

Usyk also defined his cruiserweight reign with a majority decision triumph over Mairis Briedis, before moving up in weight and becoming a two-division world champion.

He did so by dethroning Anthony Joshua in 2021, with the Ukrainian then winning their rematch and eventually facing Tyson Fury for all four major heavyweight belts.

Then, this past June, Usyk made the decision to vacate his titles after having become a two-division undisputed champion and secured a harder-than-expected 11th-round stoppage of former kickboxer Rico Verhoeven.

Still, though, the decorated southpaw intends to fight for a short while longer and, according to Ring Magazine’s Mike Coppinger, has mentioned a Fury trilogy and David Benavidez clash as possible options.

Speaking to Last Stand Podcastunified cruiserweight champion Benavidez said he would gladly face Usyk at his current fighting weight.

“The point I wanted to make when we’re talking about Usyk is: I don’t know if that would be at heavyweight or cruiserweight. Didn’t Usyk relinquish all his belts?

“In my opinion, it would be a bigger fight at cruiserweight because, once I capture this [WBC] title, that would be three belts [on the line]. It would probably be one of the biggest fights in cruiserweight history.”

While a potential Usyk showdown could be explored, Benavidez has already committed to facing WBC champion Michal Cieslak in December and verbally agreed to fight Jai Opetaia next year.