Adam Azim reignites Dalton Smith feud with 'shocking' résumé jibe

Adam Azim has reignited his war of words with long-term domestic rival Dalton Smith, taking aim at the Sheffield star's apparently 'shocking' recent boxing résumé.

Whilst Smith is reportedly set to embark upon his first quest for a world title against the winner of Alberto Puello v Subriel Matias in July, Azim has questioned why the mandatory challenger has yet to take his long-mooted step-up.

The number one ranked WBC super-lightweight contender has eased to victories over relatively unheralded opponents Walid Ouizza and Mathieu Germain over the past year, with his success over Jose Zepeda in 2024 his one stand-out stoppage victory.

Questioning Smith's surprisingly slow ascendancy, BOXXER star Azim urged his rival to put his foot on the gas and accelerate his title charge, otherwise risk losing it.

"It’s a bit shocking because how can you go from beating Jose Zepeda into fighting two average fighters," Azim told Sky Sports.

"Look at the fights I’ve been taking - Ohara Davies, Sergey Lipinets - two great fighters, good fighters and very tough fights. He’s not going into tough fights.

If you’re mandatory to fight for the world title, then fight for the world title. I don’t know what he’s holding back for.

- Adam Azim (Sky Sports)

"You want to fight a good, well-established name and fight people [so] that you're actually going to keep your momentum up, instead of fighting people that you'll knock out in the first round.

"If you don’t fight for the world title, then you’re going to lose that opportunity."

Azim and Smith have been on a collision course for almost two years now, yet despite plenty of appetite in the boxing world for the fight to be made, the two camps (BOXXER and Matchroom) remain at an impasse - with both seemingly pursuing other fights.

"He needs to buck up, fight better fights and get going because sooner or later you're not going to be developing and you will lose before you even fight me," Azim added.

"He needs to get better fights if he wants to have a proper fight with me because I'm a dangerous fighter."

Impressive stoppage victories over Sergey Lipinets and Ohara Davies have maintained Azim's upward trajectory, and whilst he harbours his own world title ambitions, it appears as though a showdown with a more household fighting name could be next up for the Slough-born star.

I want to win a world title probably this year or next year. I'm still young, I'm still fresh.

- Adam Azim (Sky Sports)

"You never know, it could be the next fight, it could be the next fight after that. We'll see. At the moment, the way it's going, it's going great and I just need to put my head down and focus and put all the emphasis on training.

"I am just looking upwards now, trying to fight world-class fighters now so I'm looking forward to the next fight."

BOXXER CEO Ben Shalom recently hinted that a fight with former world champion Regis Prograis could be in the pipeline for the unbeaten super-lightweight contender, whilst Azim himself has called out Harlem Eubank.

"Conor Benn's not even looking at Harlem so I don't know why Harlem's chasing the fight - I think Harlem should get down to super-lightweight and fight me,"

"Like the others, he probably diesn't want to fight me after two great performances."