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British light heavyweight Joshua Buatsi made a winning yet disappointing beginning to life under new promoters with a points victory over Parker in Manchester.

The Olympic medal winner's activity level seemingly secured him a judges' verdict in a tight ten-round contest at the boxing arena.

But the challenger found success, landing some telling clean blows in a contest where the approaches didn't complement each other, with excessive holding disrupting the fight.

Two judges had it 96-94 to the winner, with the final judge a 95-95 draw.

"It wasn't my best display but what defines champions? They win," the victor commented in the arena as he was faced negative reactions from the audience.

The Londoner returned to winning ways after his first professional defeat - an memorable fight with Callum Smith in last winter - to claim a 20th career victory.

Several boxing experts felt the challenger, thirty-one, should have been awarded the victory but the contender experienced the second defeat of his 28-fight career.

Buatsi Earns Triumph in Slow Affair

Buatsi's progress has slowed in recent times through promotional disputes and extended periods of inactivity.

Once tipped as the next star of British boxing, he now finds himself trying to achieve expectations - maybe in what appears to be a final roll of the dice - under recent support.

He started carefully, with the two boxers prepared to take risks in a cagey opening few rounds.

The challenger, whose sole prior loss came at the lower weight class against his former opponent in two years ago after breaking his hand mid-fight, was competing in only his second bout at light heavyweight.

By the middle rounds, the underdog had stayed in contention, making life awkward for the favorite, who operated with a solid defense to edge the more effective rounds.

The audience's tolerance decreased because of frequent holding, with Parker falling to the floor multiple occasions during grappling.

Parker finished the stronger, but multiple periods were challenging to assess. Nevertheless, previous titleholder Carl Frampton - commentating on the broadcast network - had it particularly wide for the challenger, scoring for Buatsi just a single round.

The victor progresses, but with the presence of power puncher David Benavidez, and Russian star Bivol leading the category, the journey to titles - based on this performance - still appears challenging.

Hatton Homage Fuels All-Manchester Fight

In the co-main event, Arthur beat Bradley Rea by close verdict in a excellent Manchester vs Manchester battle to win the European light-heavyweight belt.

The arena fell silent for a extremely emotional homage ahead of the contest as ten bells sounded in honor of Manchester's own Ricky Hatton, who succumbed at age 46 in September.

It was the premier televised match card in the urban center since the passing of Hatton. As the concluding sound disappeared, the stillness transitioned to a chant of "there's only one Hatton".

The fighting inside the ropes equaled the sentiment. The eventual winner was knocked down by a left hook directly to the chin in the early round, getting up unsteadily to his feet on the referee's count.

But the red-colored equipment of Arthur soon pressed ahead again. On the opposite side, the opponent - in competitive blue - was injured early, heavy swelling developing under his orbital area as the duo exchanged hard punches.

The challenger, 27, delivered effective strikes but Arthur, 34, fought fire with fire with powerful upward punches as the action hardly diminished over the full distance.

The victor edged the result with official scores of draw, close margin and wider gap, but each competitor were relentless and full of heart, everything their hero the legend represented.