British light-heavyweight Joshua Buatsi earned a win yet underwhelming start to his career under fresh promotional backing with a points victory over Zach Parker in the Manchester arena.
The Olympic medal winner's work rate likely gained him a majority decision in a close ten-round contest at the Manchester venue.
But Parker landed significant shots, connecting with powerful individual punches in a fight where the techniques didn't complement each other, with excessive holding disrupting the fight.
Two judges had it 96-94 to the winner, with the third a 95-95 draw.
"It wasn't my best performance but what do champions do? They succeed," Buatsi stated in the ringside as he was faced disapproval from the audience.
The Londoner got back to winning after his first professional defeat - an epic battle with Callum Smith in last winter - to claim a 20th career victory.
Several boxing experts felt the challenger, thirty-one, deserved the victory but the contender suffered the second setback of his 28-match career.
Buatsi Claims Win in Slow Encounter
His career development has plateaued in recent times through management issues and long spells of lack of fights.
Earlier forecast as the future of the British fight scene, he now is positioned trying to realize his potential - possibly in what seems like a last chance - under fresh management.
He started carefully, with the two boxers ready to take risks in a calculated initial rounds.
The challenger, whose single earlier setback came at the lower weight class against his former opponent in 2022 after breaking his hand mid-fight, was competing in only his second fight at the higher weight class.
By the middle rounds, the underdog had made it competitive, causing problems for Buatsi, who utilized a solid defense to narrowly win the more effective stanzas.
The audience's tolerance wore thin amid constant clinching, with Parker going down multiple occasions during close exchanges.
Parker ended stronger, but several stanzas were challenging to assess. Nevertheless, previous titleholder the boxing analyst - commentating on the broadcast network - had it strongly leaning for the challenger, giving Buatsi just only one stanza.
Buatsi moves on, but with the caliber of hard hitter Benavidez, and Russian star Bivol ruling the division, the road to world glory - judging by this showing - still seems difficult.
Hatton Tribute Motivates All-Manchester Battle
In the co-main event, Lyndon Arthur beat Rea by close verdict in a outstanding Manchester vs Manchester fight to secure the European light-heavyweight belt.
The arena fell silent for a profoundly moving homage ahead of the contest as 10 bells rang in honor of local hero Hatton, who succumbed 46 years old in last month.
It was the premier televised fight night in the city since Hatton's death. As the last bell ended, the quiet transitioned to a roar of "there's only one Hatton".
The competition during the bout equaled the emotion. The eventual winner was sent to the canvas by a powerful punch flush on the face in the initial stage, standing uncertainly to his feet on the eight count.
But the Manchester United-red shorts of the fighter soon came forward again. Across the ring, the opponent - in rival City blue - was marked up quickly, significant bruising appearing under his orbital area as the pair exchanged punishing blows.
The challenger, 27, landed power punches but the champion, 34, fought fire with fire with powerful upward punches as the pace hardly diminished over the full distance.
Arthur edged the verdict with scoring tallies of 114-114, 115-113 and 115-112, but each competitor were persistent and full of heart, exactly what their hero Hatton stood for.
