Because of a head clash, the decision went to the judges’ scorecards and Price was a clear winner on all three following a boxing masterclass from the Welsh fighter.

“I believe this is just the start,” Price said after her victory.

“I want to come back here and create a legacy.

“She came at me from round one and it took me a while to get my distance, but I enjoyed myself and I’m only going to get better.

“I want to fight at the Principality Stadium, that’s the dream.”

Price was competing in only her seventh professional fight after a stellar amateur career that brought Olympic gold in Tokyo three years ago.

The former international footballer’s target was to become Wales’s 14th world champion — and the first woman — on a night when home fans turned out in force to fill Cardiff’s Utilita Arena.

Challenger Price, almost 10 years younger than her US opponent, entered the ring to Dafydd Iwan’s anthem Yma O Hyd before the playing of the Welsh national anthem rose the atmosphere to fever pitch.

No-one could doubt McCaskill’s pedigree, with the Chicago resident having unified two divisions in her career and boasting more world title bouts on her CV than Price had pro fights.

McCaskill was also unbeaten at welterweight, but defeat to Chantelle Cameron and a draw with Sandy Ryan in her previous two contests had raised question marks against a fighter four months away from her 40th birthday.

There was clear respect between the pair in the opening stages, but the tempo rose as McCaskill roughhoused Price and the American was caught with a good punch as the bell sounded at the end of round two.

McCaskill was spoken to by referee Michael Alexander in the third after pushing Price back to the ropes again, with the crowd clearly unimpressed by the American’s antics.

Price was starting to relax, landing some venomous punches while moving in and out of range well, and swelling began to appear around McCaskill’s right eye.

Price continued to land counter-shots as a welt also grew out of McCaskill’s left eye, with the American walking on to accurate punches.

The doctor was called in to examine McCaskill’s eye at the end of the seventh, but the fight continued with no shift in the balance of power until it was eventually called off.

Price can now move forward and target lucrative matches, with English pair Cameron and Ryan high on her list.