British light heavyweight Joshua Buatsi earned a win yet unimpressive start to his career under recent management with a points victory over Zach Parker in Manchester.
The Olympic medal winner's activity level seemingly secured him a majority decision in a competitive ten-round contest at the boxing arena.
But Parker found success, connecting with powerful individual punches in a contest where the approaches never quite clicked, with frequent clinching marring the fight.
The scoring judges scored it 96-94 in favor to the winner, with the final judge a even score.
"It wasn't my finest display but how do champions respond? They succeed," the victor commented in the ringside as he was faced disapproval from the audience.
The Londoner returned to winning ways after his maiden career setback - an memorable fight with Callum Smith in last winter - to earn a twentieth professional win.
Various analysts felt Parker, 31, merited the win but the Derbyshire fighter suffered the second setback of his 28-match career.
The Champion Earns Win in Uneventful Match
The fighter's advancement has plateaued in the past few years through promotional disputes and considerable time of inactivity.
Earlier forecast as the future of UK boxing, he now finds himself trying to realize his potential - possibly in what seems like a final roll of the dice - under new promotional backing.
He started carefully, with the two boxers ready to take risks in a tentative initial rounds.
The challenger, whose only previous defeat came at super middleweight against John Ryder in two years ago after suffering a hand injury mid-fight, was competing in only his second bout at the higher weight class.
By the middle rounds, the underdog had made it competitive, making life awkward for Buatsi, who worked behind a solid defense to edge the more effective stanzas.
The spectators' acceptance diminished because of regular grabbing, with Parker falling to the floor various instances during close exchanges.
Parker finished the stronger, but many rounds were difficult to score. Although, former world champion Carl Frampton - providing analysis for the broadcast network - had it significantly in favor for Parker, giving Buatsi just one round.
Buatsi moves on, but with the likes of power puncher David Benavidez, and Russian champion Dmitry Bivol dominating the weight class, the journey to titles - based on this performance - still seems difficult.
Hatton Memorial Motivates Manchester Derby Contest
In the secondary fight, Arthur beat Rea by split-decision in a excellent all-Manchester fight to secure the European light-heavyweight championship.
The stadium grew hushed for a profoundly moving homage before the fight as a bell ceremony tolled in honor of local hero Ricky Hatton, who succumbed aged 46 in last month.
It was the premier televised boxing event in the location since Hatton's death. As the final chime ended, the silence became a shout of "only one Ricky Hatton".
The fighting during the bout matched the sentiment. Arthur was sent to the canvas by a powerful punch flush on the chin in the early round, standing uncertainly to his feet on the count of eight.
But the traditional red attire of Arthur soon advanced again. Across the ring, the opponent - in opposing blue - was marked up quickly, heavy swelling appearing under his orbital area as the duo exchanged hard punches.
Rea, twenty-seven, connected with strong blows but the champion, 34, fought fire with fire with powerful upward punches as the pace hardly diminished over twelve rounds.
Arthur narrowly won the result with official scores of even score, close margin and wider gap, but both fighters were persistent and courageous, everything their inspiration the legend stood for.
