The 29-year-old joined an elite clutch of English fighters to have claimed a world title on American soil after stopping Matias in the fifth round of their clash at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on January 10.

Smith (19-0, 14 KOs) will defend that WBC junior welterweight belt for the first time this Saturday when he takes on mandatory challenger Alberto Puello (25-1, 11 KOs) at Sheffield’s Utilita Arena live on DAZN.

But "Thunder" insists that memorable win is just the start of a long campaign at the top.

During’s Thursday’s final press conference, The Ring’s No.1 -rated junior-welterweight said: “The night in New York is old news now.

“It is a memory that will last forever but there’s a lot more that I want to achieve in boxing and on Saturday night that’s when we pick up where we left off.”

This fight has been a long time coming given that they were originally scheduled to meet in Sheffield on June 6. An injury to Smith forced a lengthy postponement with the bout now taking place more than four months later.

But, when asked whether he had considered dropping the belt and heading in a different or potentially more lucrative direction, he said: “I still see a belt on this table right now, so no, never. I would never avoid a fight.

“I leave the business to my team but as a true fighter you’ve got to fight the best. You can’t call yourself a world champion if you’re not willing to. Boxing is a business, of course, we are in it to come out financially better off but we do it because we want to be remembered as one of the best.”

With the likes of Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua in the twilight of their careers, there will be space for new stars in British boxing and Smith hopes to become one of them.

He said: “I’ve never avoided a fight and I’ve always fought whoever I’ve needed to and I’ve always come out victorious.

“Whatever I’ve had to do to become a champion I’ll continue doing that. Of course I’ll be boxing for a good few years yet and I want to be one of the faces of British boxing and world boxing. That is the plan.”

The Ring's No. 3 140-pounder Puello has kept a reasonably low profile during a respectful build-up in Sheffield but has claimed to be a level above Smith, despite failing to beat Matias himself when they met in July last year.

He said: “Obviously I’m not going to say what I’m going to do on Saturday night because that would mess up my plans completely. I say that I’m a level above him because I believe I’ve faced opponents in my career that are superior to the ones he’s faced.

“That’s in spite of the fact that he beat one of the opponents who beat me. But I don’t believe that was a clear decision.”