The Ring has learned that a deal is being finalized for Puello to challenge WBC super lightweight champ Dalton Smith, who was mandated to face Puello next. The target date and location are June 6 at Utilita Arena in Sheffield, England, Smith’s hometown. Smith is 3-0 at that venue, with each of his victories coming via stoppage.

Smith, The Ring’s No. 1 junior welterweight contender, was forced to dig deep in order to win his first world title. The 29-year-old Smith sauntered into Barclays Center in Brooklyn for his U.S. debut and dethroned hard-hitting Subriel Matias on January 10.

Heading in, Matias promised to make him quit. Despite being an underdog and seemingly gassed, Smith dropped and stopped the Puerto Rican power puncher in the fifth round.

Prior to Smith (19-0, 14 KOs) ripping away Matias’ title, Puello was lurking in the background.

Roughly six months before facing Smith, Matias (23-3, 22 KOs) scored a controversial majority-decision win over Puello on “The Ring III” undercard July 12 at Louis Armstrong Stadium in Queens, New York.

Soon after, the Dominican Republic’s Puello (24-1, 10 KOs) and his team filed an appeal with the WBC for an immediate rematch. Although it was denied, the sanctioning body ordered the winner of Matias versus Smith to face Puello. That order officially came March 5.

Initially, Smith hoped to land a unification bout next after defeating Matias. He called out the likes of Shakur Stevenson, who won The Ring and WBO junior welterweight titles by beating Teofimo Lopez in “The Ring 6” main event January 31 at Madison Square Garden, and Richardson Hitchins, the IBF belt-holder.