Talented prospect Shanell Dargan has continued a meteoric rise inside the ring with a hard-fought decision over Christine Gillespie.

The current Australian Super Bantamweight women's champion claimed a third win in a row amid the non-title fight against the past two-time New Zealand amateur title-holder in their weight division.

Dargan's management team struggled to find a contender over a number of weeks for her first title defence on Wednesday evening since claiming the vacant 55.34kg belt in October over Indigenous adversary Amber Amelia.

Dargan was only able to focus on an opponent earlier this month after putting up the title against five separate Australian rivals that were all later scrapped.

"We weren't able to lock someone in a few weeks out," she last week told National Indigenous Times.

"It's been a sort of crazy few weeks of not knowing if I am fighting, who I am fighting or will I get an opportunity.

"I was meant to be fighting for my Australian title, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get a flight from someone in Australia."

The Wiradjuri and Mununjali woman claimed the points decision 57-57, 58-56 and 58-56 on the preliminary undercard to Nikita Tszyu's Australian super welterweight title defence at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion.

The Campbelltown 31-year-old, who essentially has been in the professional ranks for only the past two years, has lost just once in seven fights that has included two draws.

Gillespie suffered just her first pro loss after fighting to a split-decision draw on debut just a month earlier back in New Zealand.