Carl Frampton poured cold water on talk of a rematch with Scott Quigg after unifying the world junior featherweight titles, instead pinpointing WBA world featherweight champion Leo Santa Cruz as his preferred next opponent.
Northern Irishman Frampton dominated Quigg but had to settle for a split points win by scores of 116-112, 116-112 to 115-113 in front of 20,000 fans at the Manchester Arena on Saturday.
Quigg (31-2-2, 23 KOs) was reticent to engage in the first half of the fight and only became dangerous from the 10th round on. Frampton's clever boxing, in and out of range, left the local favourite out of touch.
It was one sided and Frampton admitted only the third all-British world title unification fight felt like a boring encounter.
"I knew it was going to be a boring fight but you can't really say that when it's on pay-per-view," said Frampton.
"We thought that would be the way it went, he would move. He was giving me rounds and I was having to do very little. I felt comfortable in there all the time. It seemed pretty boring to me.
"It opened up a wee bit at the end, but I couldn't believe one of the judges gave it to him. I thought I won the first seven rounds by doing very little. I felt I won the fight comfortably."
Quigg, who had surgery on a broken jaw on Sunday morning, called for a rematch afterwards but his request is likely to fall on deaf ears.
"I'm happy to have the rematch if the public demands it but there are other options and to be honest I would rather move on to bigger and better things," said Frampton. "It shouldn't have been a split decision. The world's our oyster and I think we should move on.
"The Santa Cruz fight is very appealing to me. I think Santa Cruz could do super-bantamweight still and I would only go to featherweight for a world title and a big name. There are options at this weight and the next weight."
Frampton (22-0, 14 KOs) and his promoter Barry McGuigan -- the former WBA world featherweight champion -- are likely to purse fights against the likes of Mexican Santa Cruz (32-0-1, 18 KOs), WBO junior featherweight champion Nonito Donaire (36-3, 23 KOs) or IBF junior featherweight mandatory challenger Shingo Wake (20-4-2, 12 KOs).
But rather than return to fight next in Frampton's home city of Belfast, McGuigan would prefer a trip to America to face Santa Cruz, who stopped Spain's Kiko Martinez in the first defence of his WBA belt also on Saturday in Anaheim, California.
Frampton out-pointed Martinez for the IBF belt in September 2014 and also stopped him in nine rounds three years ago. Cruz, 27, is a former WBC junior featherweight champion who stepped up a division last year and called out Frampton after beating Martinez.
But McGuigan also mentioned Welshman Lee Selby, the IBF world featherweight champion, as a possible next opponent for Frampton.
Like Frampton, Selby is advised by Al Haymon and McGuigan is not keen on a fight against WBA mandatory challenger Guillermo Rigondeaux, the Cuban who is still regarded as the division's No. 1 despite being stripped of his WBA and WBO world titles due to inactivity.
"We're on board with Al Haymon and Santa Cruz is an obvious fight," said McGuigan. "We would like to go to America, maybe the east coast this time. Scott Quigg fought very bravely but that [rematch] isn't an attractive fight for us and we would like to go up to the next level and Santa Cruz is very appealing."
He added: "I don't think Rigo is an attractive fight because he backs off, fights off the back foot and we gain nothing from fighting him. We could fight someone like Lee Selby or Gary Russell at [a catchweight] 124 pounds, but Santa Cruz is the money fight."
Quigg, from Bury close to the fight venue, was comforted in the changing room after his first professional defeat by Manchester United striker and England captain Wayne Rooney, who has suffered a few disappointments of his own.
"He told me to keep my chin up but I was struggling to keep it straight at the time," joked Quigg referring to his broken jaw. "He said he had lost Champions League finals and you can come again, come back stronger."
Quigg felt the fight was close, saying: "I probably didn't get my shots off.
"I thought the first four or five rounds were like a chess match and I felt in control. He was probably being busier but nothing was landing, I was catching everything.
"It was at the end of the fourth round he caught me with a peach of a right uppercut which has done my jaw and I had to be careful for a bit. I was just about to start going through the gears and maybe I left it a bit late.
"Everything was going to plan and I felt comfortable in there. One of the judges gave it to me and saw it how I saw it."