Smith, from Sheffield, entered the final preparations for the contest at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York at a time when Giant, the film about the late, great Brendan Ingle and “Prince” Naseem Hamed – the Steel City’s most celebrated fight figures – is receiving considerable attention. His preparations for the 33-year-old Matias also started with the death of the late, great Ricky Hatton – the most celebrated of all of Britain’s fighters, and a former junior-welterweight world champion – fresh in his mind.
