British light heavyweight Joshua Buatsi secured a victory yet disappointing beginning to life under recent management with a decision win over Zach Parker in the Manchester arena.
The Olympic bronze medallist's punch output likely gained him a split decision in a competitive ten-round bout at the Co-op Live Arena.
But the challenger found success, landing some telling individual punches in a match where the techniques never quite clicked, with excessive holding marring the contest.
The officials had it 96-94 to Buatsi, with the final judge a 95-95 draw.
"It wasn't my best showing but how do champions respond? They win," Buatsi commented in the ringside as he was met by negative reactions from the crowd.
The British fighter returned to winning ways after his maiden career setback - an thrilling contest with his previous opponent in last winter - to earn a twentieth professional win.
Some ringside observers thought Parker, 31, deserved the decision but the contender suffered the second setback of his 28-bout career.
The Champion Earns Triumph in Dull Encounter
The fighter's advancement has plateaued in recent years through management issues and extended periods of inactivity.
Previously predicted as the rising talent of UK boxing, he now finds himself trying to fulfil that early promise - perhaps in what appears to be a final roll of the dice - under fresh management.
He started carefully, with neither fighter prepared to take risks in a cagey early stages.
The challenger, whose sole prior loss came at super middleweight against John Ryder in two years ago after suffering a hand injury mid-fight, was making just his second bout at light-heavyweight.
By the halfway stage, Parker had stayed in contention, creating difficulties for Buatsi, who operated with a solid defense to edge the better stanzas.
The spectators' acceptance wore thin amid regular grabbing, with Parker falling to the floor various instances during close exchanges.
Parker ended stronger, but several stanzas were hard to judge. Although, ex-champion the boxing analyst - working with the broadcast network - had it significantly in favor for the challenger, scoring for Buatsi just only one stanza.
Buatsi moves on, but with the presence of heavy hitter David Benavidez, and Russian star Dmitry Bivol ruling the division, the road to world glory - based on this performance - still looks steep.
Ricky Hatton Homage Motivates Local Rivalry Contest
In the secondary fight, Arthur beat Bradley Rea by split-decision in a outstanding local rivalry contest to capture the European light-heavyweight belt.
The stadium fell silent for a extremely emotional tribute ahead of the contest as 10 bells tolled in memory of the city's native Ricky Hatton, who died aged 46 in recently.
It was the premier televised match card in the urban center since the passing of Hatton. As the last bell ended, the silence gave way to a roar of "there's just one Ricky Hatton".
The competition during the bout reflected the emotion. The eventual winner was knocked down by a powerful punch directly to the face in the initial stage, rising shakily to his footing on the referee's count.
But the red-colored attire of Arthur soon pressed ahead again. On the opposite side, the opponent - in competitive blue - was marked up quickly, significant bruising forming under his eye as the fighters exchanged punishing blows.
The challenger, 27, connected with strong blows but the champion, 34, fought fire with fire with effective uppercuts as the intensity rarely dropped over twelve rounds.
The victor edged the verdict with official scores of even score, close margin and wider gap, but each competitor were persistent and courageous, all the qualities their hero Hatton represented.
