Dalton Smith kept his WBC 140-pound title on Saturday, edging Alberto Puello by split decision at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield, England. The champion went the full 12 rounds in a fight that left his first defense hanging in the balance until the scorecards were read.
Smith, now 20-0, had built the kind of momentum that makes any close result feel bigger than the numbers on the cards. He won the belt with a fifth-round knockout of Subriel Matias at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn in January, then returned home to headline a four-bout Matchroom Boxing main card with the title on the line again.
The margin was tight enough to create a split verdict, even if the crowd saw one man holding the belt at the end. Two judges had Smith ahead 7-5 and 115-113, while the third went 8-4 and 116-112 for Puello, a score that would have flipped the result had the other two not sided with the Sheffield fighter. B/R also called it 116-112 for Smith, 8-4 in rounds.
That scoreline mattered because Puello arrived with his own strange title history. He had briefly held the WBC belt before losing it to Subriel Matias by majority decision in New York City in July 2025, which left Smith facing a former champion who had already lived through one narrow WBC reversal. The fight itself matched that history: tense after the final bell, with no one inside the arena certain which way it would go.
Smith said afterward that a champion has to do what he has to do, and added that he is proving he is No. 1 right now. Barry Jones captured the edge of the bout with the line, “Not bundles and bundles of action, but you know at any minute it could be curtains,” which fit a contest where one clean exchange or one swing round could have changed everything.
For Smith, the win extends an unbeaten record that now includes six decision victories and keeps the WBC title in Sheffield. The next step is less clear. He has said he wants a dream Hillsborough stadium fight next, but for now the only certainty is that Saturday preserved his place at the top of the 140-pound division.
