New WBC super lightweight champion Dalton Smith has set his sights on The Ring belt after rising to No. 1 in the latest rankings.

England’s Smith (19-0, 14 KOs) won the title by stopping Subriel Matias in the fifth round of their Barclays Center clash on Saturday night to secure one of the best wins on American soil in British boxing history. The victory also propelled him up The Ring’s 140-pounds rankings, as he moved from seventh to first.

Now he wants to go one better by becoming Ring champ. He will keep a close eye on proceedings on January 31, when Teofimo Lopez defends his Ring belt against Shakur Stevenson in the main event of “The Ring 6” at Madison Square Garden in New York.

“Firstly, a big thank you to The Ring for placing me at No.1,” Smith said Thursday. “It means a great deal to me. It is something else to add to what has been an amazing week. It just doesn’t seem real yet, but obviously it’s a well-deserved win to grant that No.1 spot. But obviously we want The Ring belt now. We want to push on and get that belt and this puts me in prime position.”

As the junior welterweight division’s latest champion, the Sheffield native is now a wanted man, with mandatory challenger and former champ Alberto Puello expected to be up next. But the 28-year-old Smith has made no secret of his desire to secure a showdown with the Lopez-Stevenson winner as quickly as possible.

“Of course the winner of Lopez-Stevenson is the fight I want most,” Smith said. “It’s the biggest fight in the division and that’s the one I’ve been chasing. I’ve become a world champion to be in the biggest fights for the biggest money and that’s what I’m here for. I want to go from Ring No. 1 to Ring champion and that’s the fight that will get me there.”

Smith’s incredible victory, in only the 19th outing of his career, came after what had been a frustrating and injury-affected couple of years. After a statement victory over three-time world title challenger Jose Zepeda in March 2024, Smith managed only two bouts before Saturday’s life-changing win over Matias (23-3, 22 KOs), a two-time champ from Puerto Rico.

“That was a frustrating time for me,” Smith said. “But I believe I’ve got enough experience on my shoulders now to realise there will be ups and downs. You’re going to get injuries, you’re going to get knocks and you’ve just got to take them as they come. But the main thing is I stayed in the gym and I knew that if I won the next couple of fights what would be waiting on the horizon.

“I just kept being a true professional in the gym and I’ve reaped those rewards now. It hasn’t really sunk in yet because we have achieved what we set out to do all those years ago. But now that is done there is a new question - what more can we do? What other highs can we get to? That’s what this is all about.”

For now, Smith and his father and trainer, Grant, can raise a glass to achieving their lifetime ambition, although the celebration plan has not yet been rubber-stamped.

“I’m not sure yet,” Smith said. “I’m yet to choose how to celebrate. The weather is a bit grim in England, so maybe I need a bit of sunshine. Or maybe I’ll just go camping and do a bit of fishing. I don’t know, we will mix it up.”