By Brock Ellis

DIANA Prazak scored the biggest win in Australian women's boxing history when she dethroned reigning WIBA super-featherweight champion "Lethal" Lindsay Garbatt in spectacular fashion in front of a vocal home-crowd at Grand Star Receptions in Melbourne, Australia in a fight that has boxing enthusiasts statewide clamouring as a near-guarentee for Fight of the Year honours.

After an uncertain beginning, Prazak came on strong to score a surprise victory when the defending champion did not come out for the tenth and final round, with the ringside physician waving off the contest due to excess swelling around Garbatt's left eye.

Going into the fight, Prazak was considered a major underdog against the Canadian-born Garbatt, who was universally recognised as the number-one fighter in the division and was defending her legitimate title for the second time.

Never before had a female fighter held in such high regard come to our shores to defend their title and never had an Australian female fighter defeated a champion of such a high standing - that was until now.

Women's boxing in Australia is going through it's most fruitful period in terms of the amount of active high-calibre female fighters - which currently include former IBF bantamweight champion Susie Ramadan and former WBO lightweight champion Erin McGowan, but both fighters claimed vacant titles against opponents who although were talented - were not considered the best.

Garbatt, 29, has an impressive resume which boasts credible wins over Melissa Hernandez, Ayana Pelletier and Jelena Mrdjenovich, while also having the honour of sharing the ring with the talented Jeannine Garside - who would be a certainty for the women's boxing Hall of Fame… if there was one.

The opening stanza was a tense one as both fighters showed plenty of respect for each other's power.

Garbatt appeared to have the upper-hand early on and possessed a genuine swagger that only the best fighter in the division would have. This was further justified when Garbatt floored an unsuspecting Prazak with a stiff jab near centre-ring.

In an act that is usually seen in the O ctagon rather than the ring, Garbatt swarmed in to throw a follow-up barrage at Prazak, which only marginally missed the challenger - who had yet to completely touch the canvas. This was welcomed by a chorus of boos from the home-crowd, who passionately voiced their disapproval.

By the end of the second round, the courageous Australian looked as if she was on the verge of a complete beat-down as she returned to her stool with a heavily bloodied nose that became acquainted with Garbatt's right-hand several times in the previous round.

Garbatt continued to apply pressure in the third round and was almost rewarded with a knockdown after Prazak was caught by another looping right-hand that appeared to land flush.

To the credit of Prazak and her corner, the challenger turned the tide dramatically near the mid-way stage of the fight and began to implement a different game plan - which not only found great success but put her right back into the fight.

In the sixth round Prazak signalled her intent when she landed a heavy three-punch combination that snapped Garbatt's head back and caused what appeared to be minor swelling around the champion's left eye. With that Prazak earned the first real significant change in momentum in the bout.

Garbatt remarkably rebounded in the seventh and eighth rounds, and looked to have really hurt the challenger who was doubled over from a devastating body shot - but in truly amazing fashion, Prazak recovered to not only win the round but hurt Garbatt with a lunging left-hook which looked to have landed right on the button.

Sensing victory, Prazak stormed forward in the ninth round as she trapped Garbatt on the ropes several times. By this stage, Garbatt's left eye had completely closed up from swelling in grotesque fashion - meaning that Prazak couldn't miss with her right-hand. Prazak and Garbatt slugged away at each other until it legitimately appeared that neither had much left.

Prazak brutalised Garbatt in the remaning thirty-seconds and it came as no real surprise when the ringside physician called the contest just before the beginning of the final round. An overwhelmed Garbatt made no excuses for the defeat and stated that she was in "great shape" and knew that Prazak was a "tough fighter".

An emotionally overwhelmed Prazak leapt around the ring and was flanked by her team, spear-headed by promoter Adam Wilcock and trainer Mick Hargreaves. Also in the ring was former title-challenger Melissa Hernandez, who served as Prazak's chief sparring partner for the previous four weeks.

It was a truly remarkable feat that Prazak had accomplished - especially once you consider that she had only been training professionally for less than 24-months and was really up against it in the earlier rounds. WIBA founder and president Ryan Wissow, who was ringside for the fight claimed that the fight was a "certainty for fight of the year" and that Prazak was a "true champion".

If women's boxing in Australia didn't receive the publicity and credit it deserves - it will now.

Follow Brock Ellis on Twitter @brockellis01.