WBC Grants Smith a Voluntary Defense, Then Orders Him to Face Cruz

The WBC has given Dalton Smith room for a voluntary defense of his super lightweight title, and then it wants him to face interim champion Isaac "Pitbull" Cruz.

That sequence comes out of the mandatories session at the WBC's convention in Acapulco. The sanctioning body's own rundown says Smith fulfilled his mandatory obligation by defeating former champion Alberto Puello and may make a voluntary defense before he is required to face Cruz. Fightnews, in its Day 3 convention report, has the same order: a voluntary first, then the interim champion.

Smith is 20-0 (14 KOs) after a split decision over Puello on Oct. 24 in Sheffield, a result reported by Fightmag and The Ring, among others.

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Yahoo Sports, in its convention wrap, says Matchroom hopes to stage that voluntary at Sheffield Wednesday's Hillsborough Stadium in the summer. The WBC release does not name an opponent or a date for the voluntary.

IFL TV added that Adam Azim and Mark Chamberlain are both ranked in the WBC's top 10 at 140 pounds — IFL called it 10 stone — and that either could make an all-British world-title fight. That line is IFL's, not the WBC's written summary.

This is the first official step since earlier convention talk. In a Whisper Wire item before the mandatories session, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman was quoted saying he knew Smith and Cruz wanted to fight each other and that it would be a great fight, without an order attached. Wednesday's decision puts a sequence on that. The same convention produced other rulings we have already covered, including the hold on Lester Martinez's Canelo mandatory and the decision to make Jai Opetaia mandatory for the winner of David Benavidez vs. Michal Cieslak.

No voluntary opponent has been announced, and no date has been set for Smith vs. Cruz. When a fight is booked, you can log a pick in Fight Picker.