'The greatest away win I've witnessed' - New world champion Dalton Smith and Eddie Hearn celebrate memorable knockout win

A new world champion was crowned on Saturday night when Britain's Dalton Smith stopped Subriel Matias in New York to become WBC super lightweight champion. 

Fighting away from his home city of Sheffield, Smith opted to go toe-to-toe with the heavy handed Matias and floored Puerto Rican with a right hand in the fifth. 

While Matias was able to get back to his feet, he was on unsteady legs which forced the referee to stop the bout. 

Stunning the crowd besides a small number of Smith's supporters inside Brooklyn's Barclays Center, Smith's performance will go down as one of the best performances by a British fighter in the States. 

In the immediate aftermath, celebrations and emotions were high for Smith and his promoter Eddie Hearn. 

Smith lost for words after first world title win 

A performance of this magnitude is difficult to comprehend for any fighter, especially Smith who was being written off before the opening. 

Speaking after his win, Smith was lost for words, but had a message for those who doubt they can make significant achievements. 

"There are no words," Smith began. “A lifelong dream, hard work and sacrifice, it’s all for this moment. My Dad, my Granddad, all my family, we’ve all worked for this and I always believed. It’s a message to anyone that if you believe in yourself, you can go out and achieve your dreams."

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Smith then gave praise to his team and commented on the build-up to this fight, which was overshadowed by a failed Matias drugs test. 

"It’s not going to sink in for a long time but we always knew this would happen. We had everything against us for this fight.

"The build up, the testing and so on. But I knew that this was my moment and my opportunity, and that you could throw anything at me. I’ve got the best team around me, the best promoter in the world, and it’s a win for us all.

“Show me the money! Let me enjoy this moment now, I’m going to embrace it, and the future is bright.”

Hearn labels Smith a new boxing superstar

Smith's promoter Hearn has been ringside for some memorable wins for his fighters in the States, including Kell Brook's success over Shawn Porter and Katie Taylor beating Amanda Serrano in a record breaking night at Madison Square Garden. 

But it appears Smith's stoppage victory against Matias trumps all that with Hearn labelling Saturday's performance as "the greatest away win I've ever witnessed."

“You talk about Darren Barker against Daniel Geale, Kell Brook against Shawn Porter, honestly, that beats everything – that’s the greatest away win I’ve ever witnessed,” Hearn said. 

After reflecting on Smith's performance inside the ring, Hearn called the new WBC super lightweight champion "a new superstar in the sport of boxing." 

"So Dalton decided to fight Matias at his own game, which is the worst idea you can have – he’s never been hurt, he’s never been down – and he battered him, put him down, in New York to become the latest British world champion.

"The kid is a hero and there’s a new superstar in the sport of boxing and his name is Dalton Smith.

"He boxed lovely in the first round and then all of a sudden he’s getting hurt, he’s cut, but he stayed trading with him.

"They were both getting tired, but Dalton hit him to the body about a minute before the stoppage and really hurt him, and then the right hands landed and that’s all she wrote – that is what dreams are made of."

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