Kelly Morgan on Mikaela Lauren's big night, ring boys and fight preparations

Female professional boxer Kelly Morgan reports on a night to remember for friend and sparring partner Mikaela Lauren...

I was lucky enough to be in Stockholm at the weekend to watch Mikaela Lauren's first WBC super-welterweight world title defence.

Mikaela and I met at the WBC Convention in Tijuana, Mexico at the beginning of the year and have become strong sparring partners with Mikaela spending time in London for training camps with her coach CJ Hussein.

And thanks to the generosity of a local businessman in my adopted home town of Swindon - Paul Stewart - I was able to be at ringside to watch my friend in action.

The hotly anticipated match-up with former IBF world champion Ivana Habazin had been billed as a close contest but right from the first bell, Mikaela was too strong.

With Habazin unable to answer the volume of punches thrown by Mikaela, the referee stopped the contest in the second round.

This victory sends a huge message to the world of female professional boxers, with a rematch against undisputed world welterweight champion Cecilia Braekhus a possibility in the near future - they first met in 2010 with Braekhus winning with a knockout.

In addition to Mikaela's dominant performance, the show had many highlights including joint-headline act Erik Skoglund v Ryno Liebenberg, who fought for the vacant IBO International light-heavyweight Title.

Skoglund won after a 12-round war, which left both boxers, the referee and the canvas covered in blood.

British-based boxer Pat Mendy opened the show with a strong performance, beating home-crowd favourite Oscar Ahlin, and Swedish boxer Klara Svensson out-pointed Italian Lucia Morelli in a skilful display.

Outside of the ring, the world of female professional boxing continues to fight hard with the support of the WBC.

Saturday's show 'The Capital Showdown' saw Sauerland Promotions run a top night of professional boxing in the Swedish capital with a card of female and male boxers.

And K2 Promotions recently also featured two female bouts on the undercard of the Gennady Golovkin v Dominic Wade match-up.

It seems the big promotional companies are beginning to recognise the value of female professional boxing - although there remains a long way to go.

Mikaela's demand for ring boys was honoured by Sauerland Promotions and went down well with the crowd packed into the Hovet Arena - another illustration of female boxing growing a voice which is being heard.

My personal choice would be to remove ring boys and girls altogether but if the tradition remains, then it is absolutely right to have a mix of ring girls and boys.

I applaud Mikaela Lauren's tough stance on this, another example of the fight outside of the ring.

It was altogether a very motivating and positive weekend which will further fuel me through my current training camp.

I now have a new date for my WBC Silver middleweight title fight against Ghanaian No 1 Gifty Amanua Ankrah after our initial date in March was cancelled by the promotional company just four days before the fight

It was heart-breaking when it was called off - I had trained so, so hard - but I am now three weeks into camp and am focused and strong.

And, on June 10 in Swindon I will finally have the opportunity to become a WBC Champion.

The journey continues!