“All respect to Shakur. I’ve known him from the amateurs, and we’ve said our back and forth,” Smith told talkSPORT. “He’s one hell of a fighter. But if we can get a fight made, of course I’m grabbing it with both hands, and I’ve got the big belief I’m going to beat him. That’s a fight for me that rolls back the Ricky Hatton-Mayweather days.”

Shakur has morphed from a fighter seeking the best available challenge into a prizefighter chasing mega-paydays exclusively. Devin Haney, Ryan Garcia, Conor Benn and Gervonta Davis fit that pursuit. Dalton does not.

Once fighters begin earning that level of money, regular title defenses lose their appeal. Shakur would have to provide nearly all the commercial value against Dalton while accepting far less than he can demand for one of his preferred opponents. Smith cannot offer the audience needed to compensate for that difference.

The Mayweather-Hatton comparison makes the dream sound even less credible. Hatton was already a British superstar who brought thousands of supporters to the United States. Dalton is a belt-holder. Giving him the same setting would not create the same event.

More urgently, Alberto Puello may be too good for him. Frequent holding helped Smith prevent Subriel Matias from maintaining his pressure, but Puello presents a different tactical problem. The mobile southpaw can box from range, disrupt Dalton’s attacks and force him to lead.

Dalton repeatedly said he is not looking beyond Puello, but he spent part of the interview imagining Shakur, a career-changing purse and his own version of Hatton-Mayweather. That is a dangerous place for his thoughts to wander two months before his hardest test.

He can tend the rabbits one of these days. The trouble is that Shakur has already left the farm in search of gold, and Puello may end Dalton’s dream before it ever becomes Shakur’s concern.