The 30 year-old is pencilled in to fight on the May 29 Tony Bellew v Ilunga Makabu card at Goodison Park, just six weeks on from his IBF title defeat to Jose Pedraza at Foxwoods in Connecticut. Smith lost out via a unanimous decision to the undefeated Puerto Rican but showed heart and guile to prove his worth at the top level.
Smith hopes to rebuild quickly in order to put himself back in contention for another championship shot in the near future and has cast his eye on the possibly challenging the winner of the Francisco Vargas v Orlando Salido WBC title clash scheduled for the summer.
“It’s great to be coming straight back in,” said Smith.
“My confidence is good, I think I showed against Pedraza that I belong at Wold level, so the aim is to get a good ranking with the WBC and then get into line for another go at achieving my dream of winning a world title.
“I didn’t want to spend too long just in the gym, I wanted to get right back into competitive action and after 12 good rounds against a very good world champion, I want to show that I’ve learnt from the experience of my first world title shot.”
A domestic encounter with old rival Lee Selby has been talked about as another option for Smith should the Welshman decide to move up, although without a world title that fight could be a non-starter.
