Sunday 20 September 2015 00:35, UK
Eddie Hearn says Stephen Smith's next fight will be for the world title.
The super-featherweight star became mandatory challenger for the IBF world title as he stopped Devis Boschiero in six career-best rounds in Liverpool.
Smith (23-1-KO13) was ranked two by the WBC but now has to wait and see if current IBF holder Jose Pedraza can successfully defend his title against Edner Cherry next month.
All I want to do is fulfill my potential and become a world champion and I fully believe I will do that
Pedraza (20-0-KO12) is the new Puerto Rican sensation but will take on Cherry (34-6-2-KO19) in Ohio on October 3, and Hearn is adamant that whoever wins, Smith will be challenging.
"It will be next," he told Sky Sports.
"After the Predraza-Cheery fight, he will be in line.
"It's been a frustrating time for him; he won the WBC Silver and went to number two, then had to have an elbow operation and he had kidney stones, so it it was a long time waiting for this chance.
"And we knew their was no going back from this one.
"But we know he can go to sleep tonight as the mandatory challenger and go to sleep knowing his next fight will be for a world title."
Smith would only say he will "definitely" become a world champion but dismissed the idea of having a rematch with Lee Selby.
The Welshman stopped him in eight rounds back in 2011 and has since gone on to be crowned IBF world champion in the division below and defends his title in America against Fernando Montiel next month.
"He is a featherweight world champion and all the best to him," said Smith
"I have to follow my own career and my own ambitions, become a world champion at super-featherweight and if I does move up a weight then it might happen - but I won't be calling him out.
"All I want to do is fulfill my potential and become a world champion and I fully believe I will do that."
