Last weekend Shannon Courtenay realised her dream and became WBA bantamweight world champion, now she is plotting even more success.

The Watford boxer claimed the title by unanimous decision in a ten round blood and guts brawl against Australian competitor Ebanie Bridges and afterwards struggled to come to terms with the fact the dream had become a reality. 

Her new belt, the symbol of her success, has gone everywhere with her in the wake of the victory, even on the short getaway she is currently enjoying as part of her celebrations, serving as a constant reminder of all that she has achieved since turning professional little over two years ago.

But stepping back and admiring her work is not in Courtenay's nature. Instead the star from Abbots Langley is planning her next forward step.

"I didn't sleep at first because I thought I was going to wake up and it had all been a dream. I can't believe it to be honest," Courtenay told the Watford Observer.

"The belt's gone everywhere with me. I'm away at the moment, I've taken a few days here in the UK just to have a rest, but I've brought it away with me."

Courtenay's success has come much quicker than she could ever have dreamt. Eight professional fights in, already world champion and with plenty of options lying before her for her next move.

"I always knew I would be world champion and when I said it everyone, not laughed at me, but thought, 'oh everyone says that'. I knew myself it would happen, but I never in a million years thought I would achieve a world title in my eighth fight. It was crazy," she said.

Hillingdon Times:
"Now we're talking about going to America, going to the States and unifying the division. I'm not taking any backward steps in my career now. I've got to capitalise, I'm world champion.

"I'm away at the moment, but I've been running every day since I've been here and I've taken business calls to discuss what's next for my career and that's the most important thing to me right now. I've got a couple of catch ups planned with Eddie Hearn and my manager next week and we'll sit down and draw up plans and we're very excited about it."

Getting to where she is now has not been easy for Courtenay. A setback in her sixth fight came in the shape of a tight and contentious points defeat to Rachel Ball, but the 'Babyface Assassin' showed her mental fortitude by recovering to knock out Dorota Norek in sensational fashion just four months later.

The title fight itself had plenty of nervy moments as well, including a cut to the side of Courtenay's head early on that became cause for concern.

"It was an absolute war," said the world champion. "It's being labelled as the greatest female fight of all time at the moment, everyone's saying it's fight of the year already. It was an out and out war, ten rounds of relentlessness, but there's no way I would've been denied that night. I would've beaten anyone, I was so determined.

"The cut to my head, I knew I was losing a lot of blood, which was obviously a little bit worrying, but you just kind of have to push that to the back of your mind. 

"In the last two rounds, we were both flat out on our feet, but I just kept going and going and going."

As well as determination, Courtenay was spurred on by physical signs of the success of her game plan, most notably in the shape of a massive swelling to Bridges' eye that cause her opponent to tell her corner, "I can't see" prior to the final round.

Making the most of that weakness with effective jabs became the tactic for a frenetic final two rounds of which Courtenay no doubt came out on top.

"I could see the eye was getting bigger and bigger," she explained. "So I just started aiming for the eye and moving right and even though I was tired, I was still quite light on my feet, I still had more in the engine to go, so I was just pinging her with shots and moving and moving and moving and she just couldn't catch me.

Hillingdon Times:
"It was a tough fight and I knew that I needed to get those last two rounds just to solidify the win. I knew that I was winning anyway but when I got those last two rounds in the bag I knew then that I had done it."

Despite the spectacle of the fight, Courtenay was quick to rule of the chance of a rematch against Bridges.

A reunion against Ball could be on the cards, with Courtenay still of the opinion she won the original bout between the two, but she now has her heart set on moving forward and unifying the division. 

"That won't be happening," she said of the possibility of meeting Bridges in the ring for a second time. "Why do I need to go back and beat her again? I've beaten her convincingly already, I'm now world champion, I now want to go up.

"If I have to fight Rachel again so be it, if not we're looking to unify.
"We're very excited about unifying the division and I'm excited about taking over the States. I want to go to America so I think that's something that's going to be in the pipeline for me next."