Hockering boxer Emma Dolan targets European title shot

Emma Dolan celebrates retaining Commonwealth Super Flyweight title

Emma Dolan said she wants a European title shot after successfully defending her Commonwealth super-flyweight title.

The 25-year-old from Hockering, Norfolk, beat Nicola Hopewell by unanimous decision at Sheffield's Park Community Arena.

It was Dolan's first defence of the title she won back in March against Tanzania's Halima Vunjabei.

"I'm confident in myself, I'd like to push on now, possibly for a European title," she told BBC Radio Norfolk.

The European super-flyweight title is being contested on 2 December with England's Lauren Parker facing Italy's Giuseppina Di Stefano at York Hall, London.

"I'm going to go watch that and I'd like to fight the winner," she said.

"I'd like to see Lauren Parker win and then we can have a big British showdown, but if needs be I'm happy to go to Italy."

Parker, from Stevenage, currently holds the IBO intercontinental super-flyweight title .

"Winning the Commonwealth title opened some doors for me," Dolan said.

"Once you're a champion, you've got something to show for yourself, you start to get looked at a bit more, you start to get noticed a bit more so as long as I keep winning, I'm going to move up the ladder.

"I'm looking forward to a busier year next year and hopefully pushing on for bigger titles."

'Hostile weigh-in'

Facing Worksop's Nicola Hopewell in Sheffield represented a first "away" fight for Dolan, who trains in Newark, Nottinghamshire with manager Carl Greaves.

Dolan and Hopewell exchange jabs during headline fight in Sheffield

She adapted well to not being the crowd favourite and dominated proceedings, winning convincingly on the judges' scorecards - 98-93, 98-92, 99-91.

"I enjoyed it to be honest, the weigh-in the day before was very hostile, but I thrive off stuff like that, so I don't mind going to people's back gardens and doing what I know I can do," Dolan said.

"Having the belt pushes you on because you know the challenger is going to be hungry. They haven't tasted that yet, it pushes you harder. I know what I need to do and what I need to improve on to get where I need to be.

"We had an army of Norfolk there and an army from Newark cheering me on, which is brilliant."