The men who could sell out Sheffield Arena

The Matchroom Boxing promoter says Sheffield's own Dalton Smith could draw 9,000 fans if a fight can be made with Harlem Eubank, cousin of Chris.

Unbeaten Smith is the reigning British and Commonwealth Super light weight champion and is backed by former world titlist Clinton Woods to be the city's next huge sporting name.

The 26-year-old Steel City gym combatant has previously boxed twice at Sheffield Arena, where the hockey club Sheffield Steelers attract an average of 7,295 fans for league games, second only to football in terms of bums on seats.

Hearn, who is hoping to pilot the former Outwood Academy student to an elite belt, believes his man can do better than that.

The promoter has lodged an offer for a Eubank v Smith showdown, with Dalton's British belt on the line.

“We have made an offer to Wasserman (US-based promoters) for Harlem Eubank, I think that is a massive domestic fight" said Hearn.

Eubank, aged 29, walked away with the WBO Global Super Light strap in his last fight, against Timo Schwarzkopf, and Hearn believes he could now move up a weight class.

But he said: I thought it was a good performance (against Schwarzkopf) and I think that Harlem is an exciting fighter, and so is Dalton.

"I think that that’s the kind of fight for Dalton to break out in Sheffield and to go from three or four thousand fans to eight or nine thousand.

"That’s the next step for Dalton, being involved in a fight like that,” he told International Boxing News.

Whatever Smith's next outing turns out to be, he does seem to be on a pathway to stardom.

His seventh-round stoppage of a capable fighter in Liverpool-born Sam Maxwell confirmed his value at the domestic level, bringing him his 15th straight win, (11 KOs.)

Eubank has a W19 L0 sheet, so it is clear that the two ticket-sellers would be a hot item either in Sheffield or in Brighton.

Smith's first professional trinket was the English title, which he collected after just eight fights, beating Rotherham's Lee Appleyard at Manchester Arena in 2021.

In late 2022, the Sheffielder, who is trained by his father Grant, signed a new multi-fight promotional deal with Matchroom, who described him as: " One of the hottest young properties in world boxing."