Sheffield boxing hero Dalton Smith's elbow surgery won't halt more title ambitions
Dalton Smith was forced to pull out of a big hometown show against Dominican Alberto Puello which had been scheduled for last week at Sheffield Arena
Dalton Smith says the little matter of an operation on his elbow won't interrupt his plans for further global domination.
The Sheffield super lightweight became WBC world champion when he beat Subriel Matias in New York in January.
His first defence of the famous belt against Dominican Alberto Puello, scheduled for last Saturday, had to be postponed due to injury.
It was replaced at the top of the Sheffield Arena bill by the epic Josh Padley scrap with Aqib Fiaz, with the Doncaster man retaining the EBU European super featherweight title.
Handsworth's Smith recently became the inaugural recipient of the WBC Ricky Hatton Legacy belt, an honour which celebrates the memory of the former world champion.
And he mentioned Hatton, Puello and his injury in an interview with IFLTV.
He said: "I had to have a little bit of surgery on my elbow," while glancing to his left side.
"So we are back on the mend and everything is good.
"We are looking at October, same fight at Sheffield Arena, to pick up where we left off.
"For the sake of a couple of months we'll be back before you know it."
The 29-year-old Steel City man said his focus was mainly on Puello next but added that in the future: "I want to win more world titles and I want to follow in Ricky's footsteps.
"I want to replicate what he has done, achieve what he he's done.
"I want to fight in my home football stadium, (Sheffield Wednesday) I want to go to Vegas, I want to do all this.
"That is living on from Ricky doing what he's done to inspire us fighters. I want to go and do that in my own career."
Smith also praised the Padley v Fiaz fight, which became the chief bout.
"That deserved to be a headliner," he said suggesting a re-match for them in October would be a treat for fight fans.
The same could happen with Galal Yafai’s unification clash against Ricardo Sandoval, which was also shelved because of injury.