Demetrius Andrade defended his WBO welterweight title with a convincing ninth-round TKO win over Luke Keeler on Thursday.

Entering the ring as the heavy pre-fight favourite, Andrade (29-0, 18 KOs) dropped his Irish opponent mere seconds into the opening round and was never troubled in Miami.

The 31-year-old American floored Keeler (17-3-1, 5 KOs) again with a hard left in the second and was awarded the stoppage victory before the 10th round.

Andrade used his post-fight interview to praise the outmatched Keeler and call for a bout with WBO super middleweight champion Billy Joe Saunders.

"Luke Keeler is a warrior and a future champion one day," Andrade told DAZN.

"I'm willing to go up to 168 to fight Billy Joe Saunders in my next fight."

T K O  #AndStill @BooBooAndrade stops Keeler in the 9th to retain his WBO World Middleweight crown!  #AndradeKeeler #MiamiFightNight pic.twitter.com/kBRdpLCOtC

— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) January 31, 2020

The undercard saw Joseph Diaz (31-1, 15 KOs) overcome a gruesome gash above his left eye to capture the IBF junior lightweight title from Tevin Farmer (30-5-1, 6 KOs) via unanimous decision.

"I'm very excited I have won this," Diaz said. "I have waited for this moment for a long time."

Murodjon Akhmadaliev also staged an upset, dethroning Daniel Roman (27-2-1, 10 KOs) via split decision.

Mandatory challenger Akhmadaliev, 25, outworked Roman across 12 rounds to take the American's unified junior featherweight title and move to 8-0 (6 KOs) in his career.