Shannon Courtenay added to her list of impressive scalps when she beat England international and ABA semi-finalist Kirsty Hill in Tottenham on Saturday to underline her huge potential.

Watford’s boxing chef cooked up another hot performance as she notched her eighth win, taking the four-rounder to impress the judges after another aggressive and accomplished performance.

The 22-year-old, who like Anthony Joshua comes from Watford and the same Finchley boxing club, said: “I knew I had won. I thought I had finished it in the second round when I hit her with a big right hand and then a left hook. She had a granite chin, but she went back and was saved by the bell.”

It was the second time Courtenay – who will have to remain a class B fighter until she has had 15 contests – has beaten an Elite fighter, after previously getting the better of the Swedish number one in the Golden Girl Championships.

But she admitted she had her doubts before Saturday’s fight.

She said: “I’d seen Kirsty fight before and thought ‘bloody hell, she’s good’ but then the more I thought about it the more I thought I could beat her.”

And she did with a typically front-foot performance which has enhanced her growing reputation.

She said: “It is a really big statement so early in my career. When your hand is lifted [as the winner] it is impossible to describe the feeling. Not many people will know what it feels like. It’s the best feeling in the world and everything you have sacrificed is worth it.”

Before the fight she tweeted about those sacrifices – bemoaning the fact that she couldn’t tuck into her Easter eggs before the weigh-in and also recalling a ‘sweaty training run’ where she passed a group of her friends who were relaxing in a pub beer garden.

She joked: “Trying to make weight when you are a chef isn’t the easiest. I do desserts every day but I am determined to succeed.”

Resisting temptation in the kitchen is a battle she is winning as impressively as she is climbing the boxing ladder.

She said: “Before the weigh-in I was dying to get stuck into my Easter eggs but when that was over I ate half of one, felt guilty, and threw the other half in the bin.”

It is that single-mindedness that has made last year’s International Box Cup winner one to watch.

Her friends have stopped trying to get her to go out drinking with them like she used to because they know how focused she is on achieving her ambitions in the ring.

Courtenay wants to fight for England, she would love to do the 2020 Olympics but is also considering going to America and turning pro but, before any of that, she aims to finish her B class career on a high by staying unbeaten in her next four fights and winning the Box Cup again.