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UK light heavyweight Joshua Buatsi secured a victory yet disappointing beginning to his career under fresh promotional backing with a points victory over Parker in the Manchester arena.

The Olympic bronze medallist's punch output seemingly secured him a judges' verdict in a tight ten-round fight at the Co-op Live Arena.

But Parker found success, delivering effective clean blows in a fight where the styles didn't complement each other, with frequent clinching marring the action.

The scoring judges judged it 96-94 for to Buatsi, with the final judge a 95-95.

"It wasn't my greatest performance but what defines champions? They prevail," Buatsi said in the arena as he was met by disapproval from the crowd.

The British fighter got back to winning after his first professional defeat - an thrilling contest with Callum Smith in February - to claim a 20th career victory.

Several boxing experts believed Parker, 31, should have been awarded the decision but the British boxer endured the second defeat of his 28-match career.

Buatsi Secures Win in Dull Encounter

His career development has slowed in the past few years through promotional disputes and considerable time of inactivity.

Once tipped as the future of the British fight scene, he now is positioned trying to achieve expectations - possibly in what feels like a last chance - under recent support.

He started carefully, with neither fighter willing to be aggressive in a cagey initial rounds.

The challenger, whose only previous defeat came at super middleweight against his former opponent in two years ago after suffering a hand injury mid-fight, was competing in only his second bout at light-heavyweight.

By the halfway stage, Parker had kept it close, making life awkward for the favorite, who operated with a protective stance to barely take the cleaner rounds.

The spectators' acceptance decreased because of frequent holding, with Parker going down various instances during close exchanges.

The underdog closed well, but many rounds were hard to judge. However, former world champion Carl Frampton - providing analysis for the broadcast network - had it strongly leaning for the challenger, awarding Buatsi just a single round.

Buatsi moves on, but with the presence of hard hitter Benavidez, and Russian star Bivol leading the category, the journey to titles - judging by this showing - still looks steep.

Ricky Hatton Memorial Fuels Local Rivalry Fight

In the secondary fight, Arthur overcame Bradley Rea by split-decision in a terrific all-Manchester fight to win the European light heavyweight belt.

The venue grew hushed for a deeply poignant homage before the fight as a bell ceremony tolled in honor of Manchester's own Hatton, who passed away 46 years old in September.

It was the initial significant broadcast fight night in the location since Hatton's passing. As the concluding sound disappeared, the quiet transitioned to a roar of "there's just one Ricky Hatton".

The action within the ring reflected the sentiment. The eventual winner was sent to the canvas by a significant blow flush on the chin in the second round, getting up unsteadily to his footing on the count of eight.

But the red-colored equipment of Arthur soon came forward again. Across the ring, the opponent - in opposing blue - was marked up early, significant bruising developing under his eye as the fighters exchanged powerful shots.

Rea, 27, delivered effective strikes but Arthur, thirty-four, matched the intensity with effective uppercuts as the intensity hardly diminished over 12 rounds.

Arthur barely secured the decision with scoring tallies of 114-114, narrow lead and clearer margin, but each competitor were persistent and brave, all the qualities their idol Hatton stood for.