Carrington (18-0, 10 KOs) retained his title with a unanimous decision at Cleveland’s Wolstein Center, but the performance drew boos from the crowd during long stretches. He also appeared to have several uncomfortable moments inside the ring, including an eighth-round sequence ruled a slip by referee Harvey Dock and an 11th-round body shot that visibly hurt him and forced him to hold.

Rather than celebrating the victory, Carrington admitted he fell well short of his own expectations.

“Probably a C,” Carrington said after the fight. “There’s certain things that I could’ve done more. At the end of the day, I just did what I did to get the victory. I could’ve thrown more combinations and used my angles, but I got the win, so that’s all that matters.

“Every fight ain’t gonna be easy. He’s a good fighter, tough guy, strong guy. These are the type of fights that I wanna grow from. I’m gonna learn from it and go to the next level.”

The post-fight discussion also differed from Carrington’s pre-fight outlook. Before facing Palacios, he openly discussed pursuing unification bouts with fellow champions, including Rafael Espinoza.

Afterward, Carrington took a more measured approach, saying he would face any of the other titleholders if “the business” made sense. Of the champions, he singled out Angelo Leo as the opponent he wants most.

“I’ve been wanting that fight for a long period of time,” Carrington said. “The business just has to make sense, but I would like to fight him next.”

Carrington remains one of the division’s most talented young fighters, but Saturday’s performance did little to build momentum for an immediate showdown with the other champions. Instead, it raised new questions about how he would handle the size, strength and pressure of the elite fighters at featherweight.