Josh Kelly returned to the ring in emphatic style tonight in Newcastle as he stopped Flavius Biea inside a round.

"PBK" hadn't been in action since a majority decision victory over Ishmael Davis on the undercard of Anthony Joshua-Daniel Dubois in September.

But the 31-year-old dusted off the cobwebs in style by dropping Biea with a double left hook to the head, an attack the Romanian couldn't recover from after just 2:03 of the opening stanza.

Kelly, who weighed in for the bout just above the junior middleweight limit, called out Conor Benn for a fight that's been discussed for years.

"[I want] everyone [and] anyone. If it's a big domestic fight, [I want] Benn," he said on the Channel 5 broadcast. "If it's not Benn, if he doesn't want to take that fight, then it'll be a big world title fight.

"In every governing body, I'm ranked number four or number three, two in some governing bodies.

"I'm [right] there. I've been knocking on the door for some time. I'm in my prime now. Let me run, let me run."

Benn is coming off a close defeat to cross-generational rival Chris Eubank Jr in what was a Fight of the Year contender in the main event of The Ring's first ever boxing card on April 26.

It's likely that a rematch with Eubank Jr takes place in September, but a move back down to welterweight or junior middleweight are options for The Destroyer, too.

Elsewhere on the card at Newcastle Arena, Tom Welland beat Facundo Acre on points with the referee's scorecard reading 59-55.

Dan Toward got back to winning ways as he stopped Conor Goulding in the fifth round in front of his hometown fans.

There also were wins for heavyweight Matty Harris and cruiserweight prospect Lucas Roehrig.