Josh Kelly retained his IBF junior middleweight title with a unanimous points win over Irish challenger Caoimhin Agyarko in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
Kelly came through a tight finish to win 114-113, 115-112, 115-112 on the judges' scorecards.
After the bout, Kelly said he wants to face unified 154-pound champion Jaron "Boots" Ennis.
"I want it next. People will be smiling looking at that saying: 'What's he talking about?' ... That's a tricky night for anyone [against Agyarko]," Kelly said.
"I want the big names in the division. I've already taken out one name in Bakhram Murtazaliev ... let me get the other ones. I'm here man. I'm a champion. I'm IBF [champion] and I've just defended."
Promoter Eddie Hearn, who represents both Kelly and Ennis, said a clash between the two in the United States is now a real option.
"He's had a defence of the title and before that mandatory comes again, really you want to be looking at those big money fights and trying to roll the dice," Hearn said.
"I think that comes with 'Boots' Ennis. If I'm Josh Kelly I'm looking at the big payday out in America against 'Boots' Ennis. It's a three-belt unification fight. [WBC champion] Sebastian Fundora, all those guys."
Kelly will likely need some time off after a scrappy bout in which he suffered a significant cut on his nose.
After a slow start, the fight opened up in Round 5 as Kelly came out swinging but Agyarko, the unbeaten challenger, didn't back down and grew into the contest himself. However, he didn't have the output needed to disrupt Kelly.
Kelly, who looked comfortable in the first half of the fight, wavered slightly in the middle rounds and had a point taken off in Round 6 for repeatedly punching the back of Agyarko's head.
That appeared to spur Agyarko on as he landed better combinations and attempted to take the fight to Kelly.
Kelly's output dropped and he was cut beneath both eyes and on the nose by the end of Round 9.
However, Kelly found his rhythm in the next, working the body more and landing a strong uppercut to remind his opponent who the champion was. Kelly backed it up to start Round 11 as he targeted the uppercut again, but he couldn't pin Agyarko down as much as he would have liked.
By this point, blood was pouring from a large cut on Kelly's nose, but he kept walking forward, determined to finish strong against an equally game Agyarko.
