Subriel Matias will defend his WBC junior welterweight title against mandatory challenger Dalton Smith on The Ring IV card Nov. 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Puerto Rican Matias (23-2, 22 KOs) had just won the green and gold 140-pound belt from Alberto Puello (24-1, 10 KOs) via majority decision before HE Turki Alalshikh announced in the ring he would face Sheffield, England's Smith (18-0, 13 KOs) in four months' time.

The winner of Matias-Smith will fight Puello, The Ring's Mike Coppinger revealed on the broadcast.

Dominican Puello looked to have done enough to earn a decision win over Matias on The Ring III bill in Queens, New York City at Louis Armstrong Stadium.

The aggressive, come-forward work from Matias, however, was enough to win over the judges, who scored the bout 114-114, 115-113, 115-113 in his favour.

And now he'll fight Smith, the WBC No. 1 contender in what should be an all-action match-up on a card headlined by David Benavidez and Anthony Yarde.

Smith has fought twice this year, knocking out Walid Ouizza in a single round in January before dominating Mathieu Germain across 12 in April.

"You will fight [Smith] on the November card for the world title," Alalshikh told Matias in the ring following his victory over Puello, to which the 33-year-old replied: "You want an exciting fighter? I'm here."

Elsewhere on the Nov. 22 card, The Ring's fourth event, Brian Norman Jr will defend his WBO welterweight title against Devin Haney, Jesse 'Bam' Rodriguez takes on Fernando Martinez in a 115-pound unification bout and Abdullah Mason clashes with Sam Noakes for the vacant WBO lightweight strap.