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British light-heavyweight Joshua Buatsi earned a win yet disappointing start to life under new promoters with a unanimous decision over Parker in the Manchester arena.

The Olympic medal winner's punch output likely gained him a majority decision in a competitive ten-round fight at the Manchester venue.

But the challenger landed significant shots, landing some telling individual punches in a contest where the approaches never quite clicked, with excessive holding spoiling the contest.

The officials had it 96-94 to Buatsi, with the final judge a 95-95 draw.

"It wasn't my best performance but what do champions do? They win," Buatsi commented in the ring as he was met by negative reactions from the crowd.

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

Various analysts believed the challenger, thirty-one, should have been awarded the decision but the contender suffered the second setback of his 28-match career.

The Champion Secures Triumph in Dull Affair

His career development has stalled in recent times through promotional disputes and extended periods of inactivity.

Earlier forecast as the future of the British fight scene, he now finds himself trying to achieve expectations - maybe in what appears to be a final roll of the dice - under new promotional backing.

He began cautiously, with neither fighter prepared to take risks in a tentative opening few rounds.

Parker, whose only previous defeat came at super middleweight against his former opponent in two years ago after damaging his hand during the bout, was competing in only his second fight at light heavyweight.

By the middle rounds, the underdog had stayed in contention, causing problems for Buatsi, who worked behind a solid defense to narrowly win the cleaner rounds.

The crowd's patience diminished amid regular grabbing, with Parker slipping to the canvas multiple occasions during close exchanges.

The underdog ended stronger, but several stanzas were hard to judge. Nevertheless, ex-champion Carl Frampton - working with the broadcast network - had it particularly wide for the challenger, scoring for Buatsi just a single round.

The victor advances, but with the presence of hard hitter David Benavidez, and Russian star Bivol ruling the division, the path to championship success - on this evidence - still looks steep.

Hatton Homage Inspires All-Manchester Fight

In the supporting bout, Arthur defeated Bradley Rea by split-decision in a terrific all-Manchester contest to capture the European light heavyweight title.

The venue became quiet for a deeply poignant memorial before the fight as a bell ceremony rang in honor of Manchester's own Hatton, who died 46 years old in last month.

It was the first major televised fight night in the urban center since Hatton's passing. As the concluding sound disappeared, the quiet became a roar of "there's just one Ricky Hatton".

The fighting within the ring equaled the emotion. Arthur was floored by a powerful punch directly to the chin in the early round, standing uncertainly to his footing on the count of eight.

But the red-colored equipment of Arthur soon came forward again. From the other corner, Rea - in opposing blue - was damaged early, significant bruising appearing under his face as the fighters landed punishing blows.

The challenger, twenty-seven, connected with strong blows but Arthur, thirty-four, fought fire with fire with effective uppercuts as the intensity rarely dropped over twelve rounds.

The victor edged the verdict with official scores of 114-114, narrow lead and wider gap, but each competitor were relentless and courageous, exactly what their hero Hatton stood for.