5 Live Boxing with Steve Bunce - Smith Shines in Sheffield Homecoming

Episode Date: October 25, 2026

Is Dalton Smith pound-for-pound the best British fighter this year? Richie Woodhall and Buncey dissect his WBC Super Lightweight world title defence against Alberto Putello in Sheffield. Dalton Smith reacts to coming through a difficult first defence. Plus, Eddie Hearn gives his verdict on whether there could be a Hillsborough homecoming for Dalton in 2027.

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And check out Claude Pro, which includes access to all of the... The features mentioned in today's episode, clod.a.ai slash solve. This is Five Live Boxing. Another British world champion, another night of boxing, another great night of boxing. Daughton Smith against Alberto Puello in Sheffield for the WBC super lightweight championship of the world. What more do you want? I'm Steve Bunce and this is Five Live Boxing. It was always going to be a special night. It was always going to be an emotional night.

It was always going to be a good fight. Well, it was better than all three of those. The atmosphere was absolutely ridiculous. 7,000 people getting behind their local hero, the homecoming world champion, Dalton Smith. And he needed it because the last two or three rounds were desperate. The last round, what we were saying at ringside was, he needs to win this round to win the fight.

and that was actually true that was actually true it was breathtaking it was exhausting watching it and Richie Woodle and I we ever think if you listen to this pod you understand what happens on big fights I'll hit Richie to the ribs

he'll hit me to the ribs but he's a much better punter than me so he'll hit me to the ribs six times hit my leg four times I've got a dead leg I've got bruised up and down the side of me but that shows it's a good fight Richie

Richie Wooder where do we start Dalton Smith has retained his WBC super lightweight title with a way for thin, way for thin split decision against Alberta Puello. It was the absolute right result. Yeah. But what a fight, what a night. More than that, what a performance. Yeah, what a performance, what a night.

I will say this, Steve. I think when Dalton Smith retires from boxing, he could look back and think 2026 is probably his greatest year, you think about it, because he wins the title in New York. Against the odds. Against all the odds. Against the banger. Against a bangu who knocked 22 a guys out of 23 wins. And then he has his homecoming against a real tricky and hard opponent in Alberto Pueo,

who himself, you know, he's a two-time champion, only one defeat in 26. I mean, it doesn't get any harder than that, does it? I think it's, sorry, which, from the top of it in, I think it's the hardest homecoming. Absolutely. I've ever known for a go-winning a British title going to his hometown, or a world title going to his hometown. I've never been like it. Going into the evening, I said that if you've got the tactics,

wrong. It could be a really bad night for him. It's one of those, because it's an opponent that he's strong, a little bit flat-footed, but knows his way around the ring, Steve, experienced two-time champ, and knows when to raise it, knows when to slow it down. He's a good operator, Alberto Pueo. And I think if he was to go out of the tactics wrong tonight, he'd have got beat Dalton Smith, because as you say, it's way for thin anyway. I spoke to a couple of people at ringside who had it the other way by one or two rounds, so it was one of them. I actually thought, he'd won it by a couple of rounds. Seven, five.

Well, I had, no, I had it six, I had it six, five and one even. For Dalton, I had it. Okay, so I had it probably a little bit closer than some of the judges. But I actually thought, overall, he'd just done enough to win it, but there's not a lot in it.

And like I said, I even spoke to Barry Jones at ringside who thought that Puea had just nicked it. Yeah, you know, it was one of them. And you know what? You probably couldn't have argued. So it was a hard fight. It was a fight where he had to concentrate

from the first bell to the last bell to win it. He did so. Good performance overall. Not his best. Not his best performance, Steve, but it was horses for courses, and he had to get the job done, and he did. And that point you made there, Rich,

about how everything had to be perfect. I said on Five Live commentary that the first round was the best round of boxing we've seen this year in the British ring. And then the second round was the best round of boxing we've seen in the British ring. It was absolutely precise. There were tactics all over the place from Doughton treading,

treading intentionally on Puello's right foot, which is an old trick. And he was pulling it off like a fighter. That's one of those nudges I give you. Oh, several nudges. And then just the precision in both of their work. And then there was that dangerous momentum that Puello got in about around seven or eight.

Yeah, come back into it. And then Doughton was not flustered, but suddenly he was under press. pressure. And that was when the drummers in the audience, that was when the crowd in the audience, the 7.5,000, had to get behind their man to get him across that line. Let's get that absolutely straight. Yeah, because when it's an orthodox Southball situation, there's always a battle with the front feet, you see, who can get their foot on the outside and bring their opponent onto the rear hand and that type of thing. But also, there's always a question mark when you box the safe ball is the distance between your front foot and their front foot. And if there's more of five or six, six inches. Don't even bother throwing a punch because you're going to fall short and that's what Southpores do. They then make you they then counter you falling

short. So what Dalton was doing and I spotted it right in early on the first round because I always like to watch the feet when it's an orthodox Southball situation and Dalton was edging up because he knew he had to get close to him but he kept on stepping on his toes. It wasn't an accidental clash of feet which I had to have

to let myself overla. This was an intentional. This was a tactic. I think it was a tactic and I think it's come from the camp and they've literally said to him, look, don't throw a shot until you feel his foot. You tread on his toe, you feel his foot. Now, they had a bit of look, I thought, in the contest, in that the referee didn't mind it. He didn't really clock on. He didn't realize it was intentional.

He didn't realize it was intent. Because Steve, I have seen referees stop the contest straight away and say, oie, pack treading on your feet. I've seen that. And if that would have happened, then Dalton might have had a problem. But Dalton, very cleverly, just kept edging forward, stood on his feet. foot, noses in range, and then lets the punches go. There was a little bit of edge.

The boxers had enough edge, don't get me wrong, certainly wants the bell started. But there was a little bit of edge between Grant Smith, who trains Dorton, and Isma Salas, the great Cuban coach from the 80s and the 90s, credited with working with someone with the finest cube.

In fact, your period, you probably, in fact, when you bashed up that Cuban that time, being the first, I'm going to stand up, as I say, I've got to. Thank you. The first British boxer, stand to attention, sir. The first British amateur. ever beat a Cuban, that's the man there.

Ismausalis might have actually been in the caller because that was his error. So did you not see after the third, end of the third round when I thought Doughton was either two one up or three, three nil up? Grant Smith gets in the ring and he doesn't worry about Dorton, he turns his back to his son

and he's looking over at Ismao Sallis and he's pointing his finger and saying the kind of thing we can't repeat on the BBC product. So that was another thing that was subtly at play, this great Cuban coach, he's got his own gym in Las Vegas, he's worked with a lot of big fighters. It was a technical fight and it looked like Grant Smith, the trainer from Sheffield,

was winning the technical battle. They got it right, didn't they? And at the end of the day, I think what impressed me as well about Dalton is, I know Steve, because when you're box on homesaw in front of your home crowd, you know, you can get carried away. Close to your house, close to your house. Their gym, their still city gym as it is. Just down the road. It's about four, five minutes, six minute,

six minute, war from the road. In fact, we've parked, it's really close. John the deliverer of the Somozes has parked further away than the gym. It's really, really close to the arena. Yes, it is. But Steve, you know, it's great to box on home, Soil, in front of home fans,

but it can bring hidden pressures as well. You see, you know, you can start listening to the crowd. Dalton, what impressed me most about him tonight was not only his boxing display, was his mental strength. Yeah. Because if he'd have, if his mind.

I'm broken. If his mind. would have wondered and he would have tried to start in pleasing the crowd. He could have walked onto some big shots. You could see in his face. He was concentrating that much because he knew he had to get this spot on. And he knew also, if he made a mistake, he was going to get punished. And he was waiting.

He was just waiting for his opponent to throw a shot, a slow punch, and so he could come back with a fast counter. A great display, not only physically, but mentally tonight, I thought he was absolutely spot on. And one of the problems with a fight that's that mental, that's so that much mental energy necessary, is you're really tired of the end. You get tired.

You've done 12 rounds at the end. That's Tony Bellew when he fought Ussick, he'll tell you. Tony Bellew said he was making me suffer without hitting me. And you could sense that in there tonight. There's a couple of rounds in the middle to late at the fight when Dalton drifted slightly. Drifted a little bit. Puella picked up on it.

Anyway, at the end, I did jump up in the ring and it was full of celebratory people in light blue tracksuits. Trust me, everybody and every man and his dog was up there. It was beautiful. They're all cuddling and it was a few tears. But I did manage to pull Doughton over, and he had a bad lump on his right cheek, because you picked it up in the commentary.

That was done from a clash of heads in the 12th and final round. I don't think that would have lasted five or six rounds. I think it might have closed. Could have been a problem. But more than that, he was tired. And I know, because I've done enough interviews in the ring with fighters after fights. Sometimes...

But Steve, that's the thinking, process. Because it wasn't really a grueling fight physically. It was a thinking contest. Richard, and that's what I'm getting to. He was standing up okay, but you could just tell he was drained. Anyway, here I am in the ring with still the WBC, super lightweight champion in the world. I like even sounding.

Dalton Smith, Steve Bunce in the ring. The crowd's gone, but hey, who cares? It was beautiful. Two unbelievable wins in front of your home crowd tonight. Just try and tell me what's the... that felt like. Adrenaline is running high right now, but this year I'll beat two of the best

in the division. You know what I mean? I can't knock everybody out. I've got to show that I've always boxed. And Alberto plays one of the trickiest in the game. And I switched off a little bit in the early rounds. You know, I've got a bit complacent, but I did what a true champion is and I had to pick the rounds up in the end.

So that's two wins. I mean, Eddie said before the fight that if you get the win tonight, then for this year, your pound-for-pound best British fight. I think they don't make a belt for that, but I think that's yours. That crowns yours. Look, I've never avoided anyone.

And like I said, I beat two great champions there. Both of them, two time world champions. And I'm a little kid from Sheffield, you know what I mean. And I'm proud of what I do. I'm proud of my team. And, you know, like I said, I don't overlook anyone. One fight at a time and we knew we had a tricky fight tonight. Did you know going into round 11 and 12 that it was really tight? It was still up for grabs.

Did you sense that in yourself? I reckon round 10 I was probably a round up, and I knew I had to get the last two to, to win by three rounds. And I did that, stepped it up when I had to. And that's what champions do. And what was the crowd like? Because it was one of those fights

where I'd take my headset off and just listen to the crowd roaring, though. It was beautiful. It had to be switched on every moment. You know, Alberto was a fight away. You can't switch off at any moment. You know, he's sharp, he's clever. And I had to be switched on,

but that ring war was unbelievable. I was lucky that the buck came in the 12th round and not every round four or five, because that could have ended up closing your eye. I've got to ask you this, I've got to throw it forward, and we should just be celebrated on, but I've got to throw it forward. What do you want in an ideal, in an ideal Dalton Smith world?

Perhaps you're getting easy homecoming now. Look, I don't think it sounds like we don't have no easy fights, but like I said, I'm going to enjoy the win first. You know, boxing is, the boxing doesn't allow you let you enjoy it. You know what I mean? I want a world title, what's next? You know what I mean? I'm achieving my childhood dreams.

I want to have a couple of weeks. Enjoy the victory, and then we go again. But outdoors. somewhere in Sheffield, you know what I'm talking about, and against one of the big Americans coming, let's make it. Hillsborough, you know, my beloved football club, Sheffield, Wednesday support me.

You know, Kel did it at Bram Lane. I was there watching it. What a night. Not for, not for Kel, but what a night anyway? For Kel to go and do that, you know, to achieve and go and do that as a legacy, I want to do that at Hillsborough. And that's my dream.

And Shaqa Stevenson at Hillsborough. There's a lot of big names. There's a lot of big names. And look, I'll not have bad mouth of Choucault because we've got a lot of respect over the years and he's one hell of a fighter. Doughton there, quite understandably, praising Puella, as you knew he would,

and not jumping too much on the Shakir Stevenson. No, class, that was. He wants to fight at Hills, but sure. In an ideal world, late next year or early and whenever, it could be Shaka Stevenson, but not issuing pointless, empty challenges. No. And I do admire that bad.

He said, I try not to use this expression, but Daughton and Grant are a little bit old-school, Richie, aren't they? You know what I mean by that? They're throwback, aren't they? And you shouldn't throw that word out there casually. But with those two, it really applies. Yeah, it applies. And, you know, there's a lot of trash talk in boxing these days.

And that's part and parcel of the game, isn't it? It's a sports entertainment industry, Steve. And, you know, we have to entertain and boxes have to entertain. And sometimes they say things that they regret afterwards, and they sell things to sell things. a fight and to make a fight with a certain opponents. But I thought there

Dalton showed a bit of class. He's not only a class boxer in the ring, but he's a class class act. He's a class act how you know, Shaka Stevenson, they obviously respect each other. There wasn't bad mouth on him. He hopes the fight comes up. Because it's a massive fight. We all hope. We all hope it's an outdoor

at Hillsborough. They both get paid millions. It'd be fantastic. We'll be there commentating on it. It'd be brilliant. But there was no bad marathon. And you know what? Now and again, I just like to see that with a box. Yeah, I'm absolutely on your side. So it was not necessarily a flawless performance, but it was close to that. It was a brilliant performance. And Puella just fell a little bit short. I hope he and his team don't think they've been robbed and job tonight,

because I don't think they've been robbed tonight. If he'd have got it, he could have just nicked it. One judge gave it to him by eight four, which I thought by eight rounds of four, which I thought was far too well. Yeah, I couldn't see that. I couldn't see that. I couldn't see that. you know, if a judge gives it by a round, then okay. But I couldn't see eight rounds to four for Puello. No, I couldn't because a lot of the time he wasn't even going forward. He was just sitting on his back foot. A lot of the time he was missing.

A lot of the shots, if you watch the contest, a lot of the shots actually hit Dalton's arms and his gloves. He's just moving back a lot, wasn't it? Yeah, and he's very cleverly just staying out of boxing range out in what we call that thinking distance before he makes the attacks. So he's just hovering in and out of punching. So he's close enough, but far enough away. Exactly.

And he's far enough away to now and again just step out of range and draw the punch. Where I thought Pueo failed tonight, his biggest problem, in my opinion, was his reactions were a little bit too slow. Occasionally, we spoke about the speed of Dalton, how fast he was, in and out, was good. Off the mark, he's very quick off the mark. but it makes it even better if you've got an opponent who doesn't quite react to what he should be reacting to. And he's probably got away with other boxes, but tonight, Dalton, he knew the speed

and I think Grant his trainer knew that the speed was going to be a big factor, and it was. Just explain a little bit, because when people hear that, they think, well, hold on a minute, Bunce, you said he was an absolute leading contender and now Ritchie's saying he's slow. Explain, you don't mean slow as it. You just mean he's just a tiny bit slower than Doughton.

Exactly. He's still faster than 99.9% of the population. It's fine, fine margins. He's come up against someone who's just a little bit quicker off the mark than he is, and he hasn't been able to react to it to Dalton's attacks. Steve, when it's an orthodox Southport situation, each box's rear hand has got to travel a little bit further to get to the target. To get to the man, of course.

Okay. Now, sometimes Dalton was actually leading off with a right hand, his rear hand, and finishing on his lead hand. It was like a reverse one, two. Because it was bringing him closer. So you think about it. So now that right hand has got to go further to the target anyway. Then he was switching and finishing on his left hand.

To make that combination, if you've got enough, you need your opponent probably to have his reactions a little bit too slow. Because you don't get away with it against faster boxes. You get caught with shots. And so that proved to me that his reactions just was just off tonight against Dalton's. Yeah, you know, that was quite, All of that part of it was quality.

And I mean, we've had a great run this year, which of unbelievable fights, you know, from Josh Kelly in that war at the start of the year, all of the crazy heavyweight fights we've had, you know, Moses being out of these things. But then tonight we saw, not that any of those weren't quality, but it was just a little bit of super quality tonight.

It was just, it was high voltage. Real quality boxing. It was slick. You know what, Steve? The contest, as it started, from rounds two to four, Dalton was starting to walk away with it. For me, he was in a comfort zone.

I was a bit wide for Puella. If you remember, we said in Coventry, in commentary that he's got to, Pueo has got to do something different here. He's been a two-time world champion and he's got to show it because this fight is slipping away from him. And bingo, mate, he did do something.

He started to go forward a little bit more. He started to catch Dalton with, he started to actually up his work rate and go through the gears. and went to the body a bit. And also, and then I think Dalton, thinking he's probably a few rounds up, as lapsed a little bit.

And so it got a little bit close. And then Dalton's picked it up at the end, but you know what? There's not a lot in the fight. And when I'm speaking to Barry, Barry Jones actually thought that Puea had just nicked it. And I'm not going to argue with it. No, no.

I thought Dalton had nicked it, but you can't know if it goes either way, or if it goes a drawer. I spoke to Tony Bellew. Bellew said to me, I've got it a drawer, Richard. What, you got it.

I got off. I went, I got six. Six and five to Dalton with one even. He went, yeah, he went, okay. But he was one of them. He's close. Well, Dalton said himself, he knew he needed those last couple of rounds, and he did. Also in the ring, Eddie Heard, and it was seen to be as draining a fight for him as it was for the two boxes.

But I also talked to Eddie, and it's really interesting when we start doing these interviews, I'm waiting up on the ring, apron, and Molly Stevens was filming me, and you start to do the interview, and there's still hard and there's still a few thousand people in the arena there's still 30 or 40 people in the ring then as you work your way through the interview the arena fins out there's only a couple

in the ring then suddenly by the end of the interview the hard hat people are in the ring and they're starting to dismantle the ring if I'd have done five one minutes I'd have been part of the I'll have got a shift dismantling the ring from Mike Goodall anyway here I am with Eddie Hearn a delighted Eddie Hearn but at the same time a slightly

tired Eddie Hearn Those early rounds, the first couple of rounds, I know there's a lot at stake and you're going to promote and obviously you want your man to win, but you could sit back and enjoy them as a boxing fan. Phenomenal and, you know, to be honest with you, after six rounds, I actually had it five one or four two to Doughton. So I looked over Tony Bell, you had it all square after six and I just, I couldn't see that. I know it's a close fight and there's not a load of action and but then all of a sudden, Dawton just switched off a little bit in the middle rounds and, you know, all of a sudden it's one round to Puello. Oh, he's in another one.

and it's like, well, we're still up, and it's like, oh, all right, but now we're only one or two up. I actually had him by two rounds, winning the fight. Seven five. But, yeah, but I also can see a draw. I thought, one-16, 112 to Puello is wild. How could you can score that fight eight for to Puello? Like, for me, we've won five rounds by around eight. I mean, at minimum, like, it's just impossible to score it that way.

But I also understand, it's a bit of a game of chess in there. And all of a sudden, if you're not being as active as Puello was, I think that was Daughton's mistake just towards the latter... A couple of middle rounds. Yeah, but just by not throwing enough. And Puello weren't doing a great deal, but he was doing enough to edged around. So for me, you know, even when I heard it was a split, I just felt we're going to get this. But, you know, when I heard 116, 112 Puello, I must admit, it was squeaky bum time.

But I think the right man won a very, very close fight and a very high-level fight. Like, I know that some people come here. They might be here for the first time. They enjoyed it, but they want to see, like... Big Hemmings. guys rolling around on the floor, that was the highest level of world championship boxing. And absolutely no one wants to fight Alberto Puello. No one.

You watch who wants to fight him next. Why would you choose him? We had to fight him. And as we said in the week, and you know, you just said there, for me, to beat Matthias and Puello in one year, if you look at the British world champions, no one's got victories like that, two individual victories like that in 2026. So for me, I see Thornton Smith as the number one pound-for-pound fighter. Now what we've got to do is what we did for Kelbrook at Bramwell Lane, but we got to

do it at Hillsborough this time because these are special nights and we want to see them unify the division there in early summer now the fact the casual fans and the even the hardcore box fans do they do love heavyweights because we've got such great heavyweights and they delivered such unbelievable fights not just this year but going back 10 or so years now we've had an unbelievable fights and in some ways what what dawton did earlier in January and then again tonight might slightly go under a radar but we've seen i mean i don't know if we can be i don't know if we can praise it enough was brilliant some of some of that it's the ability to mix it up i mean don't forget again That's Mateas. He stood toe to toe for him.

Took the risk. Knocked him out in six rounds. I mean, that was a thriller. And tonight, he had to be an unbelievable technical boxer. Because I think anybody else, other than Shakur Stevenson, would have lost tonight in the division. I don't think there's another 140 pounder out there that would have beaten Puello tonight other than Shakur Stevenson and Dalton Smith. And for me, that is the fight.

And I'm not saying it necessarily happens next. I'd love to see Dalton fight at Gary Russell or the winner of next week's fight for the IBF, maybe Unifier. But the reality is, Dawton Smith's number one. with a ring magazine and Shakur's the champion. And like, Dalton's had a better year than Shakur this year because he's only fought once and he fought Tiafimo. But he's a phenomenal fighter.

And by the way, Shakur knows how good Dalton is. They're fans of each other. So I think that fight's inevitable at some point, but now on to unifying the division and hopefully that dream night at Hillsborough. And for casual fans who maybe don't, casual listeners in their cars driving home now are not sure about Shakir Stevenson,

he's acknowledged as being one of the finest fighters in the world. He's in that top one or two all of the time. There's almost a Brian Clough joke in there somewhere. And so that's where we're putting Dalton. We're putting him in that orbit, Eddie. He's the closest thing in the division that can beat in, because there are arguments that Shakur might be unbeatable, but we think we've got the man to test him.

And Shakur is a four-division world champion. What is he, 28 or something like that? Yeah, 28. He's unbelievable. Like I said, and it's only probably Dalton and Shakur that would have beaten Puello tonight, who, by the way, was number three in the ring magazine. So, Dalton is really beating, I think, number two and number three in the ring magazine.

and now he's number one. And the only one above him is Shakur. Now, Ed, the final question. I know you've been with Dalton an awful long time. You would have got to know him when your visits to GB and that type of thing. Then he turns pro of you and he's working with you. When did you really, when did you believe, start to really believe? This kid might not just win a world title.

He might be a bit special when he gets the world title. It was probably two nights. One was the Zepeda night. When he out of Mexican and Mexican. Yeah, and like, you know, stopped him with a body shot. And that was a big step up, but he did it really well. And the other one, of course, was Subreal Maitius. you never know if you're that level till you fight at that level. You know, we can hype you up,

we can, you know, match you right, but until you are in the deep end like that, you never really know. And what he showed against Matthias is we know that technically his feet, his balance, his shot selection, his accuracy, he's second to none. But he showed that night, you know, a big set of Cajunas, unbelievable heart, a great chin, all these things as well. So you know he's got that as well. And when you watch him, like I said, those first five, six rounds, I was thinking that the balance, the footwork, the accuracy, the shot selection, just making him just fall short inches and landing and scoring. I thought it was phenomenal.

Listen, credit to Puello, because he made the adjustments to come back into the fire, and it was very close. So Eddie obviously saying that's what we'd like to do, but he's also mentioning another fighter. So for the fight next year, which would be another kind of homecoming. Because I kind of agree with what Eddie's saying there. Let's stick with Sheffield. Yeah, absolutely.

This is working. Why change your winning back? And you know what happens, which, and I always say this, there were 7,500 people in here tonight. Let's say 6,500, 7,000 with autumn. They're sending messages to their friends midway through the fight. Great fight. You should have been in some unbelievable atmosphere.

They're sending messages. By the end of that fight, those 7.5,000 people, they've sent out a few hundred thousand messages to people. So people are in pubs on the other side of the Sheffield going tonight. God, we've made a mistake tonight. You've seen this fight that's taking place. So they won't make a mistake next time. It's that word of mouth thing.

So in that sense, it's great. You know what, no, Steve, I actually thought the way Eddie spoke there, you know what, deep down, I think he's not only satisfied. He was relieved also because... You knew how hard it was. Exactly. Eddie Hearn, you know, he knows how tough that fight was on paper and in the ring itself. And he could...

And as a promoter, and I don't want to be cold, and people would say, well, of course he's a promoter, so he would say that. as a promoter he could have put Doughton in with a much, much, much, much, much safer option and still sold 7,000 tickets. Yes. Just think about that.

But they went with Puello. They're going, they're going, it's a bit of over the tops of going for greatness, but they're not messing around. They're going for real and proper fights. So what do we think, Rich, I wouldn't go for Shakur next. There's no need. No. There's other people.

You milk it. You have a couple of defences here in Sheffield, maybe go Hillsborough, maybe come here again, it'll pack the place. You want to fight Brits, don't you? You've got a whole list of Brits. I've got a whole list of Brits.

You know, what is it? Adam Azim, for instance, is a great fighter 15-0. Mark Chamberlain's still about 18-1, and the new British champion who's only 6-0, Luke McCormack.

There is a big fight. Because they've got history on the G.B. Exactly, they have. Of course they are. These are big fights that can be made further down the road, but Dalton will obviously, want to unify the division.

I get that, and Eddie knows that, but he's picking the right fights. I think he's had a really good year two really hard fights in World Title fights. He's due and easier one that I'd like to see him. And a holiday, as he said to me in the ring. Holiday, an easier fight that he can win and then go for the big one with Shaka Stevenson,

which will be, millions involved, Steve. And that's what we hope for him, and why not? But like I said, at the start of this part, he'll look back at this. This could be his finest year in the whole of his career, amateur and professional, 2026, the way he's won the title and he's defended against a real good fire.

Millions involved, that's all we want. I mean, that's all I've ever wanted. For every fight I've ever covered, which, it's a guy having his debut of four rounds. All I've ever wanted is millions for every single fire. And over the last 10 or 15 years, I've seen hundreds of them make millions. Absolutely brilliant.

And it was an interesting night because, It started with two fights, okay, that lasted a total of three minutes and 46 seconds, and there was five knockdowns in total. The night was a bit brief and a bit crazy, but then it got even better because that main event was quality, it was class. The type of fight, which, where not only are you throwing punches all the time, obviously Ronald McIntosh, our commentator throws punches all the time, that's part of Ronald's way he does his business.

But we were all sort of half-standing, but it wasn't a brawl, it wasn't Dubbo. and Anthony Joshua too. It wasn't a Fabio Wardley Dubois fight, and yet I found myself still moving around, like I was twitching and moving my shoulders. Because you got sucked into that fight. You got sucked into it. You were waiting for one of the boxes

to actually make a mistake, for the other one to pounce. It was one of those type of fights. I think both boxed are good contest. Pueo, he hasn't got quick feet, but he stayed on that back foot. Got good timing. Yeah, good time in.

But for me, the speed element, And I said it at the start. I thought the speed element of Dalton would be the difference. I think it definitely was. But he couldn't just do it crash bang wallop. He had to do it very tactically, cleverly on that front foot, edging forward. And himself, he couldn't afford to make mistake himself. Good performance.

Yeah, and one I will remember, Steve. A very good fight indeed. Richie Woodrow, it's been more than a good performance from you, son. And I do love it when we work together, especially when we get to find the echoist dressing room in the world to recall a pod just to annoy. You've been in some dressing rooms, boy,

I'll tell you, we have been in some dressing rooms doing the pod than you were doing the pod than you were in a lot of fighting. Richie Woodrow, it's an absolute pleasure tonight the whole team did a great job. The crowd with Magnificent, Puello did his business and trust me, he's still a dangerous, good fighter.

But as for Dawton Smith, he should be now. He should be a new British sporting hero, certainly a new British boxing hero. His two fights this year are brilliant. And I think any boxer in history to have two fights like that in a year, two wins like that, puts him in a special position. Doughton joins any of those guys. Next year will be good.

Who knows, it might even be better. The year after will be good. Who knows it might even be better. Dorton Smith, we salute you. Still, the WBC super lightweight. That's light, well-to-weight in Old Money champion. Well, what can I say? What a run we've been on.

It seems like we've done every single Saturday this year. next week we're off. You can all relax. I'm going to Guernsey to be reunited with a man who went 12 rounds with Larry Holmes. Don't even ask me how I've ended up going with Guernsey to interview Lucian Rodriguez to talk about his fight once with David Pierce. I have no idea I'm going there. I just know that I'm getting on Air Guernsey next Friday and flying out to Guernsey.

And I've never met anyone. I'm going to whisper this. I don't have upset people in Guernsey. I've never met anybody that's ever been to Guernsey. And I'm not bad. I've been around the world a little bit. Anyway, Richard, that's me. You're you. Dalton Smith, the champion.

I'm Steve Bunce, and this has been Five Live Boxing. The Football Daily Podcasts with Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffith. We are here and we're back. Twice a week, every Thursday and Sunday. We are going to try and tackle all of the big stories in football throughout the season. Everyone's talking about at the moment about, oh, you've got to invest in gold. So I think you just melt it all down. Then you give each of the teams a little bit of gold.

There you go. Yeah, I mean, the big revelation for me there is that you think the trophies are made out of gold. Yeah. Silverware. Yeah, silverware. With Rick Edwards and Lloyd Griffith. Listen on BBC Sounds. Sometimes we all need an extra helping hand,

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