Keen to find out who his long awaited word title shot would come against, Sheffield’s Dalton Smith recently took a busman’s holiday to New York to watch Subriel Matias eke out a hard fought majority decision over Alberto Puello to win the WBC junior welterweight title.

Smith’s scouting mission rapidly turned into a business trip.

Matias (23-2, 22 KOs) barely had time to pose for celebratory photographs with his newly won title before finding himself face to face with his next challenger.

Keen to capitalise on the moment, His Excellency Turki Alalshikh quickly announced that Smith would get his mandatory shot at the WBC title on the upcoming ‘Ring IV’ card which takes place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on November 22nd. The event will be streamed globally by DAZN.

Smith (18-0, 13 KOs) is aware that he faces a tough task but during an interview with Boxing Now, the 28-year-old revealed that he is looking forward to exposing the holes he noticed in Matias' game before the Puerto Rican lost his title to Australia’s Liam Paro last June.

“Whoever won that fight, I'd have been happy for,” Smith said.

“Obviously fighting for a world title, they're not going to be muppets, That’s the elite of the elite.

“Now I've got my chance to prove to everyone I'm at that level. But, you know, it's funny. Everyone says he's this bogeyman, this and that. When he fought Paro, I said, don't be surprised if Paro beats Matias.

“Everybody wrote him off and obviously he beat him. People thought I was mad when I said it.

“I just found weaknesses in his style and obviously Paro exposed him a little bit.”

For a time, Matias’ relentless, hard hitting style and menacing approach made facing him one of the most difficult assignments in world boxing but as intimidating as his glossy record and spectacular highlight reel look on screen, some things need to be experienced live to truly appreciate them.

Having seen Matias in action, Smith left New York with a clearer appreciation of his strengths and weaknesses and a real belief that he has what it takes to beat him.

“Of course he can punch, he's a big puncher, but it’s not the one-punch knockout,” he said.

“For him, it's the accumulation. People just stand in front of him and try and have a fight. Obviously we see weaknesses, and that's why we do the 10-week training camps, to make sure we get it right. We're well conditioned, but we go in there and execute it.”