MANCHESTER, ENGLAND — Jack Catterall will target the welterweight division's biggest names after beating Harlem Eubank in Manchester on Saturday night.

As the sixth round of a cagey fight wound down, both fighters emerged from an accidental clash of heads sporting serious cuts. The gash over Catterall's right eye was particularly bad and although confusion initially reigned, the action was correctly stopped before the seventh round could begin.

The fight went to the scorecards and the 32-year-old from Chorley was awarded a unanimous technical decision in his first outing at 147 pounds.

It wasn't clean and certainly wasn’t pretty but after losing a WBO interim junior welterweight title fight to Arnold Barboza Jr in February, Catterall (31-2, 13 KOs) will be pleased to have woken up on Sunday morning as a winner.

Understandably, a disappointed Eubank called for an immediate rematch. Rather than take the bait and lay groundwork for a return that nobody outside the Brighton fighter's camp would have been particularly interested in seeing, Catterall's promoter Eddie Hearn quickly steered the post-fight conversation in a different direction.

"You want to see the fight unfold, I felt he [Catterall] was getting on top and would've liked to see it go on but that's not the way it works," Hearn told DAZN after the fight.

"The right decision [to stop it] and we move on for a shot at the world title.

"Rematch or not, Harlem's got big fights ahead. I'm going to try and get Jack what he deserves, a world title. Probably not [a rematch]. We knew stylistically it wouldn't gel into a classic, we'd like to move on. He’s no spring chicken but I’d love to land him one of those big names at 147."

Welterweight has been home to some of the sport's biggest names over the past few years but some disappointing performances and Jaron Ennis' decision to vacate his IBF and WBA titles and step up to junior middleweight has created a power vacuum atop the division.

The seven-pound jump from junior welterweight to welter is one of the biggest in professional boxing and facing Eubank gave Catterall the opportunity to feel how it is to train, live, make weight and fight as a welterweight.

Catterall has always been renowned as a physically strong, sharp fighter but has been competing in junior welterweight title fights for more than a decade. He looked much bigger than Eubank - who it should be said, only moved to welterweight himself last year - and when the two did exchange punches, he generally came out on top.

Beating Eubank was never going to move Catterall directly into position to fight for a world title and it will be hard to persuade any of the division's leading lights to face him unless there is a meaningful reward at stake. However, he can now begin to work his way towards a 147lb title shot with confidence and certainly isn't short of targets.

"We want a big fight at 147. Devin Haney, Teofimo Lopez, Conor Benn, Ryan Garcia, Brian Norman, 'Boots' [Ennis] is moving up to 154, everything to play for at 147 and Jack will be in the mix," Hearn told the BBC.

"Jack wants to move on and challenge for world titles. [Paddy] Donovan-[Lewis] Crocker for the IBF world title, [Shakhram] Giyasov is [WBA] mandatory. We want Jack in that position."