The WBC featherweight champion defeated Rene Palacios by a clear unanimous decision in his first title defense Saturday night but didn't look particularly impressive.

For large stretches, the jam-packed crowd at Wolstein Center in Cleveland booed Carrington for his lack of an offensive attack. Also, the New York native appeared to get dropped in the eighth, but referee Harvey Dock ruled it a slip. And in the 11th Carrington (18-0, 10 KOs) was visibly hurt by a body shot, forcing him to hold.

He didn't give himself a good grade afterward.

“Probably a C,” Carrington told several reporters. “There’s certain things that I could’ve done more. At the end of the day, I just did what I did to get the victory. I could’ve thrown more combinations and used my angles, but I got the win, so that’s all that matters.

"Every fight ain’t gonna be easy. He’s a good fighter, tough guy, strong guy. These are the type of fights that I wanna grow from. I’m gonna learn from it and go to the next level.”

The competition doesn't figure to get any easier as Carrington seeks to add to his hardware.

He's open to facing any of his fellow 126-pound champions, Angelo Leo (IBF), Brandon Figueroa (WBA) or Rafael Espinoza (WBO). But if the decision were his and his alone, Leo would be next.

“I've been wanting that fight for a long period of time,” Carrington said. “The business just has to make sense, but I would like to fight him next.”