Top boxing promoter Eddie Hearn believes a rising star from Watford will fight for a world title next year after she produced a “punch perfect” display to continue the fine start to her professional career.

Shannon Ryan produced a dominant performance against Italian Martina Bernile from the outset at Wembley Arena on Saturday and won every round to claim an emphatic 80-72 points victory to extend her winning record to 5-0 since her professional debut in March 2022.

This was the super flyweight’s first eight-round contest and also saw her make her debut for Matchroom, having signed for the promotions company in the spring.

“I thought it was literally punch perfect,” Ryan said. “I didn’t go in there looking for the stoppage. I went in there looking to give a good performance, I love performing, I love putting on a show and the main thing is getting the win and that’s what I did tonight.”

The 26-year-old was keeping her feet firmly on the ground despite comfortably beating a European champion – Bernile won the vacant EBU flyweight title in her previous fight – in only her fifth professional outing.

“As a lot of people may know already I started boxing in 2018 as an amateur, I had my debut last March and here I am today doing my Matchroom debut which is so surreal and Eddie, I am so grateful for the opportunity,” she said. “What this means to me now is I’m 26, I’m still pretty new in the game, I’m in no rush, definitely another eight rounder and then we’ll push on and see what’s there.”

Hearn was impressed with Ryan’s performance, particularly her use of body shots, and while he agreed that the former Francis Combe Academy student needs more experience, this shouldn't prevent her looking to move up the ladder relatively quickly.

He said: “She’s a great talent and fairly inexperienced in terms of her years in boxing and specifically at professional level, but what that showed tonight against a European champion was she breezed through that level and that was really impressive.

“What I liked was she was always throwing, always trying to force the stoppage. She didn’t mind sitting in a pocket - great work from the training team. You don’t hear that very often, stay in the pocket, work the body and it was a variation of everything. You don’t see that much body punching in women’s boxing but I thought her body punching was excellent tonight.

“Like she said another eight rounder but when you’re beating European champions 80-72 you can’t be afraid to step up a little bit quicker but there’s still learning to do.

“I think she’s going to be involved in world title fights without question in 2024 and I think she’s a great talent. She represents the sport of boxing well, she’s dedicated to the sport and she’s exciting. She lets her hands go and I think she’s going to be in some great fights.”