{"id":622693,"date":"2026-04-23T06:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T06:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/622693\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T06:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T06:04:10","slug":"dalton-smith-says-loyalty-is-rare-in-boxing-as-he-commits-to-matchroom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/622693\/","title":{"rendered":"Dalton Smith Says Loyalty Is Rare In Boxing As He Commits To Matchroom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=boxing247.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"660\" height=\"208\" alt=\"Add East Side Boxing as a preferred source on Google\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/google.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p>  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>  <a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKAgKIiJDQklTRXdnTWFnOEtEV0p2ZUdsdVp6STBOeTVqYjIwb0FBUAE?ceid=US:en&amp;oc=3&amp;hl=en-US&amp;gl=US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" style=\"display:flex; align-items:center; justify-content:center;&#010;            width:140px; height:40px; overflow:hidden;\"><br \/>\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"468\" height=\"128\" alt=\"Follow East Side Boxing on Google News\" style=\"height:100%; width:auto; display:block;\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/follow-google-news.png\"\/><br \/>\n  <\/a> <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve always stated to them, loyalty is hard to get in boxing,\u201d Smith said to talkSport Boxing. \u201cMatchroom\u2019s always showed that to me. I\u2019ve always showed that to them. I\u2019ve always said I wanted to start my career with them, and I\u2019d love to finish it with Matchroom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The unbeaten Sheffield fighter added that the new agreement is about continuing a partnership that has already delivered him a world title and major home events.<\/p>\n<p>Smith also made clear he believes his best years are still ahead, despite already reaching the top level.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel like I\u2019m not fully at my peak yet. I feel like there\u2019s a lot more to come. I believe I\u2019m just getting started.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Asked about matchmaking, Smith gave a practical answer, saying boxing decisions must make business sense, while insisting he has never ducked opponents.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoxing is a business, so you\u2019ve always got to fight someone, and what makes sense. But I\u2019ve always fought who I\u2019ve needed to fight. I\u2019ve never avoided anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The new contract keeps one of Britain\u2019s leading 140-pound fighters tied to Matchroom as he prepares for the next stage of his title run. Things are going well right now for Dalton.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019ll be interesting to see how this plays out.\u00a0If Smith starts taking loss after loss against the gauntlet, this is how it likely plays out.<\/p>\n<p>After a first loss, especially to someone like Puello or Gary Antuanne Russell, Matchroom would likely stick by him. He\u2019s a ticket seller in Sheffield, and promoters love a redemption arc. They\u2019d feed him a few confidence builders to see if the engine still runs.<\/p>\n<p>If he gets deconstructed by the likes of Keyshawn Davis or Ernesto Mercado, the loyalty shifts from protecting a star to using a name. He would enter a new phase.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019ve always stated to them, loyalty is hard to get in boxing,\u201d Smith said to talkSport Boxing. \u201cMatchroom\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":["post-622693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}