Wakefield's Jasmina Zapotoczna handed European title shot against unbeaten Chloe Watson

​The 30-year-old, a versatile flyweight, celebrated a career high last month when she won the WBA International belt at London’s Copper Box Arena. In order to do so, she brought an abrupt end to the undefeated streak of Matchroom prospect Maisey Rose Courtney, writes Tom Coates.

Embracing the underdog tag, Zapotoczna displayed razor-sharp reflexes and an impressive ring IQ to emerge as a deserved winner.

She said: "I like to be the underdog. It's always a good story about the underdog. There's no pressure on me, I had nothing to lose to be fair.

"I enjoyed myself, I enjoyed every part of it, in that environment on a Matchroom show and on the big stage. I felt amazing, I feel like I belong in that environment.”

Zapotoczna’s usual environment is Dicky’s Gym in Batley, where she trains alongside Barnsley’s Callum Simpson.

Her stablemate recently scooped a memorable victory of his own, defeating Zak Chelli to win the British title at Oakwell Stadium.

Since moving from Poland, Zapotoczna has been based in Yorkshire and considers herself an adopted Yorkshirewoman.

She said: “I've been in Wakefield from the beginning, I've been in Yorkshire from the beginning, since I moved to England. I feel like I'm part of it - I'm a Yorkshire girl now.

"My boyfriend is from Yorkshire as well, I feel like I belong to Yorkshire.”

Despite residing and training in the county, Zapotoczna is yet to fight professionally on home turf. London will once again play host to her next fight, which has been scheduled for Friday, September 27.

The EBU European flyweight title will be up for grabs, with the undefeated Chloe Watson providing the opposition. While a European title shot is a dream for the 30-year-old, she also harbours ambitions of stepping into the ring in front of a Yorkshire crowd.

She explained: “That [fighting in Yorkshire] would be lovely. Callum Simpson's fight was in Barnsley, unfortunately I couldn't fight on that card. But we'll see in the future. Maybe I could manage to fight in Leeds – that would be amazing.”

While Zapotoczna now appears to be coming into her own, it has not been plain-sailing. She boasted an unbeaten record until February, when she locked horns with Shannon Ryan in Greenwich.

The bout marked a step up to the super-flyweight class and proved to be a step too far. Ryan survived a cut to the eye to secure victory by unanimous decision and Zapotoczna has since returned to her usual weight division.

She said: “I had a fight in February for the same title. It was in a higher division. My natural weight is supposed to be flyweight so I lost on points, but it was a very close fight. The pain of the first defeat was massive.

"But that win, on the sixth of July, was amazing. That feeling was amazing because I was an underdog, so it was even better to win this fight, against a big fighter from Matchroom. It tastes even better.”

Zapotoczna does not wish to pigeonholed to a particular style of boxing and believes versatility can be a weapon as she looks to climb even further up the ladder.

She said: "I don't have a proper style, I can fight in every level, I can adapt quickly to any fighter. If it's mid-range, if it's long distance, I like every position at every level. I'm just multi-tasking.

“The main one now is Chloe Watson, a current European champion in the flyweight class. That's my next goal – to get that belt.”