After the decision was announced on the University of Houston campus in their DAZN main event, Foster (25-3, 12 KOs) headed for the ropes in-front of Shakur Stevenson and the pair exchanged words.

Stevenson, ringside to support Ford (18-2-1, 8 KOs), walked into the ring and went face-to-face with Foster. The two engaged in a heated verbal exchange and eventually had to be separated by security.

"He was saying I ain't ready and all that," Foster said in his post-fight interview.

"He knows this is why I came to his little man to show him I was serious about making a fight with him, and I’m still serious right now. I'll go to 140 or whatever he wants to do. He wants to meet at 135, let's do it."

Ring and WBO junior welterweight champion Stevenson (25-0, 11 KOs), who sits No. 3 on The Ring's pound-for-pound list, headed straight for social media and insisted he'd be willing to fight the 130-pound beltholder next.

Foster, The Ring's No. 2-ranked junior lightweight, added if he can't land a Stevenson fight, he would be willing to test himself against IBF/WBO 130-pound champion Emanuel Navarrete (40-2-1, 33 KOs) in a three-belt unification.

That prospective matchup would also see the vacant Ring title on the line, as Navarrete is The Ring's No. 1-ranked junior lightweight and sits No. 10 on The Ring's pound-for-pound list.

"I'm the best," Foster said. "If I can't get Shakur next, hopefully me and Navarrete can do it, but y'all know who I want."

Foster and Ford engaged in a high-level chess match for the first six rounds. Very little separated the two and more often than not, the fighter who remained on the front foot and kept matters at the end of their punches controlled the round.

Foster though, seized control in the second-half as his championship mettle shone through. The Orange, Texas native found consistent success behind his jab and straight right hand, pulling away from challenger Ford.

"I’m one of the smartest people in this ring," Foster added.

"All I needed to do was adjust. I knew coming in what he wanted to do, and took everything away from him. I knew what his strengths were and my plan was to take them away."

New Jersey native Ford had his best round of the second-half in the tenth, forcing Foster to the ropes and connecting on the cleaner work.

That proved his final wind, as the champion retrieved momentum, backing the younger man up, bloodying his nose with straight right hands in one of his best frames of the fight.

He carried that impetus into the final round, capping off a gritty first title defense of his second title reign as WBC 130-pound champion.

Javier Alvarez (118-110) and Alan Krebs (116-112) overruled judge Chris Migliore's 114-114 drawn scorecard as the Top Rank-backed champion was the latest to retain his championship on a Matchroom show.

"I started off a little rusty, I ain't going to lie," Foster accepted.

"He was a little sharp early, but I knew I was going to start picking him apart. I told him there was levels to this and I told him, the son, that I was going to get the daddy next, and that's who I want."