Ryan Garner believes that there is plenty more to come after winning the European junior lightweight title on Saturday night.

Last year, impressive, back to back victories over former British champion, Liam Dillon, and the world rated Archie Sharp moved Garner, 17-0 (8 KOs), to the higher reaches of the British 130lb division and earned him the chance to headline for the first time.

The 27 year-old from Southampton took his chance with both hands and delighted a capacity crowd at Bournemouth’s BIC with a ferocious, bell to bell performance to score a shutout victory over Spain’s previously undefeated Salvador Jimenez, 14-1-1 (6 KOs), and snare the EBU title.

Garner’s rise hasn’t been problem free. It is nine years since he turned over as an outrageously talented teenager but there have been times when he has come dangerously close to veering completely off the rails. Over the past three years he has settled down, grown up and begun to take the most of his undoubted ability.

“These nights are what dreams are made of,” Garner told Queensberry after the fight.

“I've been saying it for ages, obviously I know I had a bumpy road years and years ago but I've got a Mrs, I've got two kids now. I'm not just doing it for me, I'm doing it for them and it's really made me knuckle down.

“I can't thank Frank Warren enough. Wayne Batten [his trainer] and Frank Hopkins [manager and cutsman] they all stuck by me through absolutely terrible times. Me giving them a dog’s life, giving them grey hairs but they stuck by me and, look, I’m repaying them now so I can't thank them all enough.”

Garner’s team will now turn their attentions towards securing a multi-title fight with British and Commonwealth champion, Reece Bellotti.

There have been strong rumours that the fight will be part of an upcoming Queensberry Vs. Matchroom ‘5 Vs. 5’ promotional battle.

If the penny has dropped with Garner outside of the ropes, he has also begun to understand exactly what it will take to reach the top inside the ring.

The fight with the tough Dillon taught Garner just how tough and fit championship level fighters are and it also woke him up to the fact that he will need to be as well rounded as possible if he is to be successful.

He believes that he is beginning to put ticks in plenty of boxes but that he has also yet to display anything like his full range of abilities.

“I've got I’ve got a big, big heart and I know deep down what I want to do in this game so I know I’ve got to dig in and I dig in when I need to you,” he said.

“I can fight, I can box. Look at the Liam Dillon fight. I fought at the start then I boxed. Archie Sharp, I had to go to him. He [Jimenez] was another game person, I had to stick and move so it just shows I’ve got a few things in my armoury and I ain't even reached my full potential.

“Some of the the stuff I do in the gym, I ain't seen it yet myself let alone everyone else so I can't wait for them to see the best of me.”