“Take nothing away from Subriel – he is an incredible champion.

“I did not actually persist with the techniques tonight. I performed him at his personal recreation.

“I gave my dad a little bit of a coronary heart assault in there as that wasn’t the gameplan, however I took all his finest pictures and thought ‘you’ll be able to’t damage me’. I knew I would get to him.”

Smith joins heavyweight Fabio Wardley, welterweight Lewis Crocker, super-featherweight Jazza Dickens and featherweight Nick Ball as one of many UK’s 5 present male world champions.

Ticket gross sales had been reportedly modest, however there was no scarcity of noise from travelling supporters as Smith walked to the ring to ‘When the solar goes down’ by Arctic Monkeys, who’re from his dwelling city of Sheffield.

But it felt like a house battle for Matias, with New York’s robust Puerto Rican inhabitants firmly behind the 33-year-old.

He appeared so relaxed that he stopped for selfies with members of the family throughout his ring stroll.

Making the primary defence of the title he received in opposition to Alberto Puello in July, Matias has at instances been a sluggish starter and Smith exploited that by banking the opening spherical with sharp, crisp punches to move and physique.

Matias edged the second, forcing Smith on to the again foot as blood trickled from the Briton’s nostril.

After a scrappy third, Smith unexpectedly selected to commerce with the champion.

With 22 knockouts in his 23 wins, Matias entered with a repute for relentless stress and heavy arms. Smith, nevertheless, additionally carried stoppage energy, having recorded 13 knockouts of his personal.

He landed a number of heavy left hooks to shut the fourth spherical. Then got here the career-defining second that actually introduced Smith on the world stage.

After briefly stumbling from a Matias mixture, an unfazed Smith got here roaring again in a fifth-round firefight.

He landed two straight left-right mixtures that snapped Matias’ head again, earlier than the decisive overhand proper.

There was a short protest from Matias on the referee’s determination, whereas Smith’s coach and father, Grant, rushed into the ring in celebration.