Adam Azim vs Dalton Smith ordered for EBU super-lightweight title
The first European title fight of 2024 took place last weekend when super-lightweight champion Adam Azim dispatched of his official challenger, Enock Poulsen in five rounds on February 3.
The winner was already ordered by the EBU to face the next challenger, Sheffield’s Dalton Smith, with the purse bids called for February 28, 2024.
Adam Azim (11-0, 8KO) and Dalton Smith (15-0, 11KO) are both regarded as two of the hottest prospects in British boxing right now.
Azim kicked off 2024 with yet another stoppage victory, picking up where he left off last year when he halted EBU champion Franck Petitjean in the 10th round in Wolverhampton to lift the coveted blue belt for the first time.
Now that his first successful title defence is out of the way, he has already been given his next mandatory opponent in fellow Brit, Dalton Smith.
Rising Sheffield star, Smith, faces world title contender Jose Zepeda on March 23, on a Matchroom Boxing show in his home city.
Having won the British super-lightweight title outright, his fight against Mexican-American, Zepeda, is a statement of intent that he plans to move up towards world title honours.
Having won English, Commonwealth and British titles, the next natural step for Smith to take would be the European strap to complete the set. However, a win over Zepeda may see the 26-year-old move past European level, especially with his WBC #12 ranking set to rise should he move up to 16-0 in March.
But British fight fans will be very keen to see what happens when “Thunder” and “Lightning” meet in the ring. “The Assassin” Azim has a very relaxed, dextrous, flowy style, flicking out his left jab with incredible speed and accuracy, whereas “Thunder” Smith is more of a patient, well disciplined, all-round boxer with the ability to fight on the front or back foot.
They each share talent, speed, power and potential, so if the fight gets made it will be one of the biggest matches for the UK boxing calendar this year.
In other news, there’s three more Brits making European title defences this month.
Thomas Essomba defends his EBU bantamweight belt to official challenger Elie Konki, this weekend (February 9) in Sheffield.
On the same show, Stevi Levy will meet Dorota Norek for the vacant female EBU super-bantamweight strap.
Also this month, European flyweight champion Connor Butler from Liverpool will defend against world title contender Jay Harris in Liverpool on February 24.