UK light heavyweight Joshua Buatsi earned a win yet underwhelming debut to his career under fresh promotional backing with a unanimous decision over Zach Parker in the Manchester arena.
The Olympic medal winner's work rate appeared to earn him a majority decision in a competitive 10-round fight at the boxing arena.
But Parker landed significant shots, connecting with powerful individual punches in a match where the approaches never quite clicked, with frequent clinching disrupting the fight.
The scoring judges judged it 96-94 in favor to the winner, with the third a even score.
"It wasn't my best performance but how do champions respond? They prevail," Buatsi said in the ring as he was met by disapproval from the crowd.
The British fighter got back to winning after his initial pro loss - an epic battle with Callum Smith in last winter - to claim a 20th pro success.
Several boxing experts thought Parker, thirty-one, should have been awarded the victory but the British boxer experienced the second defeat of his 28-bout professional journey.
Buatsi Earns Triumph in Slow Encounter
His career development has plateaued in recent times through contract problems and long spells of lack of fights.
Previously predicted as the next star of UK boxing, he now is positioned trying to fulfil that early promise - maybe in what appears to be a final roll of the dice - under new promotional backing.
He opened tentatively, with the two boxers willing to be aggressive in a cagey early stages.
Parker, whose single earlier setback came at super-middleweight against his former opponent in two years ago after damaging his hand in the contest, was participating in his second fight at light-heavyweight.
By the fight's midpoint, Parker had made it competitive, causing problems for the favorite, who operated with a solid defense to edge the more effective stanzas.
The crowd's patience diminished amid constant clinching, with Parker going down several times during grappling.
Parker closed well, but multiple periods were challenging to assess. Nevertheless, ex-champion Carl Frampton - providing analysis for Dazn - had it strongly leaning for the challenger, giving Buatsi just one round.
Buatsi moves on, but with the caliber of hard hitter David Benavidez, and Eastern European fighter Dmitry Bivol ruling the division, the path to championship success - based on this performance - still seems difficult.
Ricky Hatton Tribute Inspires All-Manchester Battle
In the secondary fight, Arthur defeated Rea by split-decision in a excellent Manchester vs Manchester contest to capture the European light-heavyweight championship.
The arena fell silent for a extremely emotional memorial prior to the bout as ten bells rang in memory of the city's native Hatton, who passed away 46 years old in last month.
It was the premier televised match card in the city since the passing of Hatton. As the concluding sound disappeared, the stillness gave way to a chant of "there's only one Hatton".
The competition during the bout equaled the feeling. The eventual winner was knocked down by a left hook directly to the face in the initial stage, rising shakily to his feet on the count of eight.
But the traditional red equipment of the fighter soon came forward again. On the opposite side, Rea - in rival City blue - was injured quickly, significant bruising developing under his orbital area as the fighters landed punishing blows.
The challenger, 27, connected with strong blows but Arthur, 34, matched the intensity with powerful upward punches as the pace rarely dropped over 12 rounds.
Arthur barely secured the result with scoring tallies of even score, narrow lead and 115-112, but the two athletes were persistent and brave, exactly what their inspiration Hatton represented.
