Light-welterweight Dalton Smith hopes to emulate “legend” Ricky Hatton as he begins his own journey to stardom in America when he challenges WBC world champion Subriel Matias on Saturday.
The 28-year-old from Sheffield faces the fearsome Puerto Rican at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
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Speaking at Thursday’s news conference, Smith said a victory could be the first step towards building the kind of following that Hatton – who died aged 46 in September – enjoyed in the United States.
“I got into boxing at six years old and the dream is to become a world champion with travelling supporters,” Smith said.
“I looked up to one of the greatest of all time – God rest his soul – the legend, the ‘Hitman’ Ricky Hatton. What he did, the nights he had… he inspired us.”
Manchester’s Hatton was one of a select group of British fighters to have captured the boxing public’s imagination in America, packing arenas in Las Vegas with his loyal following.
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Smith still has a long way to go before coming close to what Hatton achieved, but he has won all 18 of his professional bouts.
He now faces his toughest assignment to date – the heavy-handed Matias boasts 22 stoppages in 23 victories, alongside two defeats.
“I’m not here to make up the numbers,” Smith added. “I’m here to achieve a childhood dream and to win the best belt in boxing.”
Should this fight be happening?
Subriel Matias (left) will make a first defence of his world title against the undefeated Dalton Smith [Getty Images]
The bout proceeds despite Matias returning a positive test for Ostarine, a muscle-growth agent that is on the World Anti-Doping Agency banned substance list, in an out-of-competition sample taken on 9 November by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association.
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A B-sample also produced an adverse finding, but the New York State Athletic Commission cleared the 33-year-old to compete, ruling the concentration detected was below the threshold used by major boxing jurisdictions.
After the initial failed test, the WBC cited “mitigating factors” and concluded the low levels were consistent with accidental ingestion through contaminated supplements. Matias was, however, put on a 12-month probation period with the sanctioning body.
Although the failed tests were not addressed directly at the news conference, tension simmered when Matias addressed Smith’s promoter, Eddie Hearn.
“If you were a fighter, your face would be smashed,” Matias told Hearn.
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“Thank God I’m not a fighter,” Hearn replied. “But, as I said, justice shall be served.”
When pressed by a reporter on what he meant, Hearn sidestepped the question and redirected attention back to Smith.
Will Smith make it big in America like Hatton?
Victory would make Smith the United Kingdom’s fifth reigning male world title-holder, joining heavyweight Fabio Wardley, welterweight Lewis Crocker, super-featherweight Jazza Dickens and featherweight Nick Ball.
Matchroom did not win purse bids, so Hearn is not the lead promoter in New York, but he believes a win on US soil would make Smith a “British great”.
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“When you do it away from home, it’s even more special. And if you’re good enough, you do it away from home,” Hearn said.
Boxers from the British Isles who secure world titles in America often earn an added layer of prestige.
Lloyd Honeyghan famously shocked undisputed welterweight champion Donald Curry in Atlantic City in 1986, while Alan Minter won his first world title in Las Vegas six years earlier by dethroning Vito Antuofermo. Nigel Benn also won his first title in the US when he stopped Doug DeWitt in Atlantic City in 1990.
There is recent Sheffield pedigree in winning titles overseas as well. Kell Brook – like Smith, born and raised in the city – claimed his maiden world title in the United States when he beat Shawn Porter in California in 2014.
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“It would have been nice to have done this in Sheffield, but it’s going to be even sweeter when Dalton smashes him in New York on Saturday night,” Hearn said.