If you were given one chance to guess the main reason why the fight between British junior welterweight contenders Adam Azim and Dalton Smith is unlikely to happen next, the odds are that you would guess correctly.

“Money,” Azim’s promoter, Ben Shalom, said during an interview with The Ring.

You were right weren’t you?

Although Azim, 13-0 (10 KOs), and Smith, 17-0 (13 KOs), are still relatively early in their careers, it is almost impossible to remember the last time one was mentioned without the other. Whatever either man goes on to achieve, they will be entirely unable to avoid questions about each other until they meet in the ring.

If it feels like observers have been talking about a potential fight for an eternity, imagine how long it feels for the fighters themselves.

We - and they - are going to have to continue discussing it for a while yet.

Last Saturday night, Azim made a sensible step up in levels when he battered and stopped veteran former IBF 140lb champion, Sergey Lipinets, 18-4-1 (13 KOs), at London’s Wembley Arena.

The weekend before, Smith - who is represented by Matchroom - returned from a ten month long injury lay-off to blow away over matched Frenchman, Walid Ouizza, inside a round to collect the vacant European title. A belt Azim himself once held but relinquished last April when Smith was named his mandatory challenger.

After the win over Ouizza, Smith - who is ranked at No.2 by the WBC - steered the conversation away from Azim and declared his intention to win a world title before the end of the year.

Azim has been a little more willing to broach the subject than Smith but mainly focused his attention on decrying the calibre of Ouizza’s challenge.

Shalom appreciates that the fight has to happen but although he is certain of victory, he also wants his man to be adequately compensated when it does.

He points to the way he held 2020 Olympic bronze medallist, Frazer Clarke, back from challenging Fabio Wardley for the British heavyweight title as an example of squeezing as much juice as possible from a fight.

When they eventually met last March, Wardley and Clarke sold thousands of tickets at the O2 Arena in London and the brutality of the epic draw they battled to ensured both men an even bigger payday for the rematch. Wardley scored a vicious knockout of Clarke when they renewed hostilities in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia last October.

“Who’s gonna pay the amount of money that Adam Azim deserves?” Shalom said.

“That goes for Dalton Smith as well. I got crucified when we didn’t do Wardley-Clarke after six fights. They then both changed their lives. Whether Fabio wants to admit it or not, they completely changed their lives those two fights with the money that they earned.

“The same will happen I believe with Adam and Dalton when it happens at the right time. I think it’s on Adam Azim’s terms when that fight will happen.”

Azim’s age and inexperience have often been held up as reasons to delay making the fight but that excuse is nearing the end of its shelf life.

At 22 years old, Azim is a former European champion and has matured into a genuine junior welterweight. His recent outings have also shown an evolving style. The blistering hand speed and finishing ability remain his trademarks but, since stepping up in quality, he has begun to box with more patience, only cutting loose when certain it is safe to do so.

Last October, he calmly broke down his friend, Ohara Davies, in eight rounds and three of his last five outings have gone ten rounds.

Shalom, rightly, believes that Azim is improving and becoming more well rounded with every fight and training camp he gets under his belt and is content to ignore the demands of boxing fans and the criticism from Hearn and only make the fight with Smith when he feels the time is right.

“Of course, every fight he has he goes from a 60% chance of winning to a 70% chance of winning to an 80% chance of winning. They know that as well as we do. Adam’s in his development stage but still extremely talented and still on par - if not ahead - of where Dalton is” he said.

“It’s frustrating because I really like Dalton Smith. He’s got nothing to do with this. He’s not even saying anything. They both just want to get on with their careers. Let them get on. Let them develop. Let’s get behind them both. They’re both British fighters that we should get behind and they will fight. They’ll fight at the right time.”