Elif Nur Turhan produced one of the most explosive performances in women’s world title history to become the new IBF lightweight champion in Monaco.

Turhan was a huge underdog against Brazilian great Beatriz Ferreira at the Salle des Etoiles on the Monte Carlo coast but it looked like there would be only one winner from the very start.

Two-time Olympic medalist Ferreira (9-1, 2 KOs), undefeated before tonight, had simply no answer to the power of her challenger from Istanbul, Turkey.

Turhan (12-0, 8 KOs) had one legitimate knockdown overturned by the ref in the first round before registering a legitimate one moments later. Ferreira regained her footing but was stopped on her feet after 1:08 of the fifth.

The new champion, 30, said: “We trained so hard for this moment. We went to war in training then came in here and went to war here too.

“I worked so hard for three years, for this fight. This is what I worked for and this is what I gave my all to. I trained that hard that I cried and this is what it was for.”

Turhan started with a clear objective: land her devastating right hand. She arrived in Monte Carlo on a three-fight knockout streak, which is very unusual in top-level women’s boxing.

And it did not take long for her to complete that task, dropping Ferreira for the first time with 30 seconds left of the first round. Somehow, referee Diana Drews Milani called it a slip but Turhan did not complain. Instead, she waited to be called back in, marched over, and dropped Ferreira again with the same shot.

Ferreira made it to the bell but was clearly rattled and Turhan was straight back to work in the second round. The Brazilian seemed completely unable to telegraph Turhan’s right hand, which windmilled in like clockwork. Then, as the second round drew to a close, she started to follow it up with an equally slashy left hook.

It was more of the same in the third round but Ferreira was starting to read her unorthodox, hard-hitting challenger to stay out of trouble. Turhan, however, after so much early success was happy to keep swinging for the hills with the right hand.

But as the fifth round approached its second minute, the fight exploded into life one again, and it was Turhan in complete control. She backed Ferreira into the corner and simply unloaded with crunching hook after crunching hook.

The Brazilian was caught in the blizzard of punches and looked out on her feet as three of them landed clean. The referee gave her a count but had no choice but to wave it off with the champion’s back against the ropes.

When asked if she is the hardest puncher in women’s boxing, the new champion said: “I’ve just won a world title so I want to fight the best. At the moment yes, but I have hard opponents to come so i’ll keep showing it.”