Dalton Smith says he is ready for a unification fight with either Shakur Stevenson or Teofimo Lopez after he claimed the WBC super-lightweight title and believes rival Adam Azim has to prove himself at world level before they fight.
Smith became Britain's latest boxing world champion after knocking out Subriel Matias in the fifth round in Brooklyn.
That extended his unbeaten record as a pro to 19-0 when a right hook dropped Puerto Rico's Matias and the referee called for the stoppage, despite Matias attempting to get to his feet.
The Sheffield fighter had rocked his opponent with another right hand earlier in the same round.
Now, all attention is starting to turn to who Smith will face next and whether a unification fight is now on the cards with the winner of the fight between Lopez, who defends his WBO super-lightweight title, and Stevenson in New York on January 31.
The unbeaten Stevenson will be bidding to become a four-weight world champion when he steps up from lightweight to challenge Brooklyn's Lopez, who is making the fourth defence of his WBO belt.
Smith says he will most likely be in New York to watch that battle and will have a keen eye on the two fighters he has in his sights.
"I will probably be over there watching it. It is a great fight and obviously I have my eyes on that as a potential opponent for those guys next. It is going to be good and it is going to be a great fight," Smith told Your Site.
"I am favouring Shakur (Stevenson) on points."
Would Smith prefer a particular opponent out of the two? He says, just as he did against Matias, he will take on whoever in order to achieve his next goal.
"Either. I always said I want to be a world champion, a WBC world champion and I will fight whoever to do that," he added.
"I did that and it will be the same process for the future ahead. You fight whoever you have got to fight.
"We will take each fight at a time, but we'll see how far we get. I believe in myself that I would be a world champion, I have done that.
"Let's see what more we can achieve."
Talk of a unification bout means attention has been coupled with speculation of Smith taking on Adam Azim after the latter fights Gustavo Lemos later this month.
While Smith hopes for British boxing that Azim has what it takes to put himself in world title contention in the future, he is currently targeting "bigger fights".
"I know Gustavo (Lemos), he's my sparring partner from the last fight - not the world title, the one before," Smith said.
"I had him over for a couple of weeks. He is a good guy and obviously I am there supporting Adam as well. I don't want Adam to have a downfall. It will be a good fight.
"I think he is good enough to go on to win a world title but time will tell and I want him to go on and achieve those things because it's better for us.
"Once someone gets themselves in that position for that fight, then it makes sense. But as of now, you know, I believe I deserve those bigger fights."
Azim had already previously responded to comments from Smith regarding the opportunity to fight him and believes he has the time in his career to get to that same level.
Indeed, he would relish taking him on in a unification fight of their own down the line.
Azim relinquished the European super‑lightweight title in April 2024, which quashed a mandatory defence against Smith.
"It's great news for me. The fight's getting bigger. If I win a world title, we'll have a massive unification in Britain," Azim had previously said.
"A bit like Carl Frampton vs Scott Quigg. We've had Amir Khan vs Kell Brook; Conor Benn vs Chris Eubank Jr. You've got Nigel Benn and then you've got Chris Eubank Sr. This is the next one.
"He's probably aiming it at me, but look, I'm still young.
"He's 28, I'm still 23. I've got plenty of time in my career. He's done that at 28. Imagine me doing that earlier in my career. I've still got years in front of me.
"I think when we end up fighting each other, you're going to see the spark that both of us have."
