Dagenham's Joel Kodua is so far satisfied at the way his boxing career is steadily progressing, writes Ziad Chaudry.

The 26-year-old super-welterweight hopeful, promoted by Frank Warren's Queensberry Promotions, stretched his unbeaten record to four after a routine six-round 60-54 points success over vastly experienced journeyman Eligio Palacios.

Kodua met the Nicaraguan at York Hall on the undercard of Dennis McCann's WBO inter-continental super-bantamweight title draw with Ionut Baluta.

And the 36-year-old Palacious, who is based in the Zaragoza province of Spain, had never tasted success in 24 previous visits to this country, with only eight wins in 83 bouts since turning professional in June 2009.

Regulars to the famous old Bethnal Green venue would have seen Palacios perform for the fifth time after falling to Kazakhstan's Nurtas Azhbenov, Elliot Whale, Alex Bishop, Joshua Frankham - who is also on the books of Warren's Queensberry Promotions stable - and now Kodua.

Ghanaian-born Kodua, whose younger brother Gideon, 19, led West Ham United to an emphatic 5-1 victory over Arsenal in last season's FA Youth Cup Final at Emirates Stadium, used to ply his trade on the railway tracks as an engineer before making the switch to sport and the professional ranks.

His debut on September 16 saw him defeat Joe Hardy over four rounds at York Hall and so far the career move to the ever competitive fight game seems to be a wise decision for the likeable and ever-smiling Kodua, who is a regular sparring partner to Hackney's two-time world light-heavyweight title contender Anthony Yarde.

"Basically next month is going to be a year since I've turned pro so I'm happy with the journey I've made so far, plus I'm always trying to elevate," Kodua told Queensberry Promotions YouTube channel.

"Myself and Tunde [Ajayi] my coach was reminiscing about what I was doing before which was working on the railways, so it's good to see where I'm at now.

"Tunde and the team was extremely happy with the performance and I was happy with the performance too. People saying it was my best yet."

Kodua has targeted an October return to York Hall - with a date still to be decided by the promoters - for another six-rounder and added: "I want to be active as much as possible. If I'm out before the end of the year then that's brilliant."