Shawn Porter stops Andre Berto in ninth round

With the convincing victory, Porter potentially earns a rematch with Thurman, who he narrowly lost to back in June.

His clash with the experienced Berto was a rough and tumble affair from the opening bell in New York. 

A deep gash opened over Porter's left eye from an accidental headbutt in the second, and another opened over his right eye just two rounds later.

Porter's constant aggressiveness and effective body work seemed to frustrate Berto, who struggled to stay off the ropes and was dropped in the second by a short right hand.

An odd series of events unfolded in the opening minute of the ninth round.

With Berto unsteady on his feet following another clash of heads, Porter (27-2-1, 17KOs) pounced and floored the former champ with a left hook for his second knockdown of the fight.

Berto got up, but Porter continued to connect with Berto against the ropes and referee Mark Nelson waved off the contest at 1:31.

"I have to clean up those head butts," Porter said. "We tried to use the whole ring, but sometimes in the heat of the battle stuff happens. I'm a fighter and Berto is a fighter as well, those headbutts were just the two of us going in and fighting.

"I thought I fought smart tonight. I thought I picked my punches well. There were times where I smothered my shots, but there were also times where I smothered him. He has a dangerous uppercut but we had a great game plan.

"This was a just very hard fought battle by both of us and I'm blessed to get the victory."

After the fight, Berto admitted that Porter's aggressiveness and the accidental headbutts frustrated him.

"I have to give him credit, but he's a rough fighter," Berto said. "He has great skills but, at the same time he was trying to be rough and trying to handle me anyway he could.  I got a lot of headbutts, and he did too.

"Shawn' is a tough competitor.  We had a good competitive fight until the headbutts got to be a little too much for me.  But I thought it was a really good fight before that."

After the fight, Thurman, who was ringside for the eliminator, was asked if he would grant Porter a rematch.

"His team was adamant about the rematch and now he's fought his way to earning that," Thurman said.

"We just need to sit down and talk about. He's hungry, you see the way he fights, it could be a great fight again." 

Jermell Charlo defended his WBC world super-welterweight title in with a devastating sixth-round knockout of mandatory challenger Charles Hatley.

Charlo (29-0, 14 KOs) landed the crisper shots from the opening bell, using a sharp left jab to set up an efficient straight right.

Houston native Charlo, the younger twin of undefeated former 154-pound champion Jermall, floored Hatley midway through the third with a textbook left-right combo that stunned his fellow Texan.

Charlo's striking precision continued in fourth and fifth, before an onslaught of punches and a perfectly timed right to the chin sent Hatley falling face-forward to the canvas.

Referee Harvey Dock didn't hesitate and instantly waved off the fight at 0:36 with Hatley out cold on the canvas.

"I used that jab to set up the right hand," Charlo said.

"I knew Charles Hatley goes down and he gets back up - he's a warrior - and I knew I had to get in there and be a lion.

"Hatley was moving around a lot. He was trying to engage and I tried to tell him to come fight. When he finally got in there, that's when I got him out. I'm the champ so I have to continue to fight my mandatory."