Matchroom’s June 6 show has yet another new main event.
First, Dalton Smith went down to injury, and his scheduled WBC super lightweight title defense against Alberto Puello was postponed. In its place, Ricardo Sandoval vs Galal Yafai, for Sandoval’s WBC and WBA flyweight titles, was installed as the new main event.
That’s off now, too, as Yafai is injured and that bout, too, has been postponed. But the show will go on.
Now in the main event is Josh Padley, who will defend the European super featherweight
title against Aqib Fiaz at Utilita Arena Sheffield.
It’s not a world title fight, but it is a fine matchup. Padley (18-1, 6 KO) has been strong in three straight wins following a game, short-notice lightweight title loss to Shakur Stevenson in early 2025, which followed his upset win over Mark Chamberlain in the autumn of 2024.
Fiaz (14-1, 2 KO) has won two straight following a loss to Reece Bellotti in late 2023. Last time out, he won a decision over Alex Murphy in a lightweight bout. In fact, his last two fights have been at 135, but he’s back down to 130 for this shot.
It would have been pretty easy to just postpone the entire card, really, having lost two viable, world title main events, but Matchroom deserve some credit for keeping it on and keeping everyone else who was set for the card active and getting paid.
