# Dalton Smith edges Alberto Puello by split decision to retain WBC super-lightweight title in Sheffield Source: SportsBriefly (https://sportsbriefly.com) Canonical URL: https://sportsbriefly.com/en/boxing/dalton-smith-edges-alberto-puello-by-split-decision-to-retain-wbc-super-lightwei Language: en Published: 2026-10-26T15:08:21.985+00:00 Updated: 2026-10-26T15:08:22.067306+00:00 > Dalton Smith survived a tactical, razor-close twelve rounds against Alberto Puello to keep his WBC super-lightweight title and his unbeaten record in Sheffield. ## TL;DR - Smith beat Puello by split decision: 115-113, 115-113, 116-112. - It was Smith's first defence of the WBC super-lightweight title. - Smith improves to 20-0 with 14 knockouts; Puello falls to 25-2. - Puello's southpaw jab troubled Smith early before lead right hands took over. - Smith now targets a Hillsborough unification against Shakur Stevenson or Gary Antuanne Russell. - Leo Atang stopped Jonathan Vergara in round one and Giorgio Visioli beat Maxi Hughes on the undercard. ## Key points - Smith beat Puello by split decision: 115-113, 115-113, 116-112. - It was Smith's first defence of the WBC super-lightweight title. - Smith improves to 20-0 with 14 knockouts; Puello falls to 25-2. - Puello's southpaw jab troubled Smith early before lead right hands took over. - Smith now targets a Hillsborough unification against Shakur Stevenson or Gary Antuanne Russell. - Leo Atang stopped Jonathan Vergara in round one and Giorgio Visioli beat Maxi Hughes on the undercard. ## A split decision in Sheffield Dalton Smith kept his unbeaten record and his WBC super-lightweight title in front of his home crowd on Saturday night, edging Alberto Puello by split decision after twelve hard, tactical rounds at the Utilita Arena in Sheffield. Two judges, Kieran McCann and Jon Llona, scored the contest 115-113 for the Sheffield champion, while Ray Danseco saw it 116-112 for the Dominican challenger. The verdict, delivered on 24 October 2026, gave Smith the narrowest of winning margins in his first defence of the belt. It was not the coronation the home crowd had hoped for, but it was the kind of win that tells you something about a champion. Puello, a former two-time world champion and the mandatory challenger, arrived with a plan and the experience to carry it out, and for long stretches he made Smith work for every round. The fight was a chess match rather than a shootout: low on output at times, high on tension throughout, and genuinely difficult to score as the rounds ticked by. ## How the fight unfolded Puello started well. Fighting from a southpaw stance, he worked behind his jab, used his reach to keep Smith at arm's length, and moved well enough to deny the champion clean openings in the first round. Smith looked patient rather than rattled, and from the second round he began to find his rhythm. His lead right hands, thrown over Puello's jab, became the most reliable punch of the fight, landing in the second, third and fourth rounds as the champion gradually took control of the centre of the ring. The pattern held, with swings, for the rest of the contest. Puello came back into it in the fifth by getting his left hand going, and his willingness to attack also gave Smith chances to counter. Smith produced some of his best punches in the eighth, but Puello's reach and movement kept the rounds tight. Smith was cut above the right eye in the tenth round after an accidental clash of heads, and picked up another cut on his cheek in the twelfth, yet he finished strongly, landing a strong right hook early in the final round and showboating in the closing seconds. Neither man was knocked down. ## Smith's measured verdict Speaking to DAZN afterwards, Smith was honest about the difficulty of the night. He said he had known what he was coming in for, praised Puello as a two-time world champion who had beaten good names, and admitted he had switched off a little in the early rounds before doing what he called a true champion's job by winning the last couple. He added that he had got Puello's rhythm early on and believed the challenger had respected his power, but stressed that Puello's experience had made this a learning fight. It was a measured assessment from a champion still growing into the role. ![Leo Atang celebrates his first-round stoppage of Jonathan Vergara](https://dcwdppdscydjemfvownz.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/api/1793026874981-jn1kl5-boxing-inside1-2026-10-26-evening.jpg) ## The road to Hillsborough The win improves Smith to 20-0 with 14 knockouts. Both men weighed 139.6 lb. It was the first defence of the WBC belt he won by stopping Subriel Matias in January, a fifth-round knockout in Brooklyn that announced him as a genuine world-level force. Puello, the 32-year-old Dominican southpaw, falls to 25-2 with 11 knockouts. The fight was originally planned for June, only to be postponed by Puello's injury. His only previous defeat had come against Matias, the man Smith dethroned, which made this a neat, circular test for the new champion. He passed it, but only just, and the dissenting card for Puello ensures the debate about the scoring will run on. What comes next is now the story. Smith's stated goals are plain: he became world champion, and now he wants to sell out Hillsborough Stadium, the home of his beloved Sheffield Wednesday. Promoter Eddie Hearn has the same destination in mind and wants the next fight there to be a unification. The names at the top of the list are WBO and Ring Magazine champion Shakur Stevenson, who recently became a promotional free agent after leaving Zuffa Boxing, and WBA champion Gary Antuanne Russell. Hearn went further in his praise on the night, saying Smith had cemented himself as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in Britain. Hearn argued Stevenson would relish fighting in front of 30,000 people in the UK. Nothing has been signed, and a Puello rematch is also a talking point after such close cards, but the direction of travel is clear: Smith's team wants the biggest fights available, at home, in a stadium. ## Undercard shines The undercard gave the Sheffield crowd plenty to cheer before the main event. Heavyweight prospect Leo Atang, still a teenager, stopped Jonathan Vergara in the first round, dropping him three times before the referee waved the contest off at the end of the opener. Atang moves to 9-0 with 8 knockouts. Giorgio Visioli, meanwhile, beat Maxi Hughes by majority decision, with scores of 96-94, 95-95 and 96-94, to claim the vacant WBC International Silver lightweight title and extend his own unbeaten record to 12-0. Shannon Ryan also stopped Emma Dolan in the first round. ![Giorgio Visioli poses with his belt after beating Maxi Hughes](https://dcwdppdscydjemfvownz.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/media/api/1793026877083-v0m0ks-boxing-inside2-2026-10-26-evening.jpg) ## What it means For Smith, though, the night will be remembered for the main event alone: twelve rounds of pressure, patience and fine margins, settled by two cards of 115-113. He did not get a statement win, but he got the win that matters against a proven former champion. The stadium dream is still alive, the unbeaten record is still intact, and the division's biggest names now know exactly where to find him. Mentions: Dalton Smith, Alberto Puello, WBC, Utilita Arena, Sheffield, Kieran McCann, Jon Llona, Ray Danseco, Subriel Matias, Shakur Stevenson, Gary Antuanne Russell, Eddie Hearn, Hillsborough Stadium, Leo Atang, Giorgio Visioli, Maxi Hughes ## Sources - [fightmag.com](https://www.fightmag.com/boxing-dalton-smith-vs-alberto-puello-live-results/) - [boxingnews.com](https://boxingnews.com/news/dalton-smith-vs-alberto-puello-result-and-reaction) - [skysports.com](https://www.skysports.com/boxing/news/13603395/dalton-smith-beats-alberto-puello-to-retain-wbc-light-welterweight-title-after-split-decision-victory)