When promoter Eddie Hearn hailed Sheffield's Dalton Smith as Britain's best pound-for-pound fighter, one former boxing expert was far from surprised by the praise.

Former Ingle boxer Atif Shafiq has been making the same case for some time.

Shafiq has watched the Steel City fighter develop from amateur prospect to professional standout and, now, WBC super-lightweight world champion.

Hearn's tribute followed Smith's latest victory, over two-time world champion Alberto Puello, which extended his professional record to 20-0 and saw him retain his green and gold belt.

The promoter escribed the result as further proof that Smith had beaten "two of the very best in the division" in 2026: Subriel Matias in New York and Puello in Sheffield.

After his Arena win, the Matchroom promoter said: "For me, Dalton Smith cemented himself as the number one pound-for-pound fighter in Britain.

"Dalton Smith is a legacy guy. I know that money plays a big part in boxing, and we want to make sure that this guy lives a wonderful life. But first and foremost this guy is a real fighter, who wants belts, legacy, and to make his city proud. That’s the most important thing to Dalton Smith.”

Shafiq attributes Smith's success to the foundations laid during his amateur career.

An outstanding amateur, Smith won multiple national titles, a 2014 European Youth Championships silver medal and a 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games bronze, representing Great Britain internationally, and taking the 2018 senior ABA (England Boxing) championship at light-welterweight.

Turning professional in 2019, he progressed rapidly through the ranks, collecting the English title in 2021, the WBC International Silver and WBA Intercontinental belts in 2021–22, the British title in 2022, the Commonwealth title in 2023, the WBC Silver title in 2024 and the European title in 2025.

His breakthrough came in January 2026, when he stopped Matias to win the WBC strap. He retained it in October with a split-decision victory over Puello.

Shafiq believes Smith's background and pedigree helped him come through a demanding first title defence at Sheffield Arena.

"He had just enough to grind out a win," Shafiq told The Mat Minute podcast.

"It was a close fight; it could have gone either way but he had that bit of experience along the way to get him there.

"Eddie Hearn is now saying he is pound for pound number one in Britain - to be fair I have been saying it for a while.

Dalton Smith is the most complete fighter we have got in Britain. He can do it all."

Puello, meanwhile, disagreed with the judges' verdict and felt he deserved the victory.

He was quoted as saying: "They clearly robbed me of my fight."

He added: "I know the president of the World Boxing Council will give me another opportunity," apparently referring to WBC president Mauricio Sulaimán and his hopes of another title shot.