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British light-heavyweight Joshua Buatsi made a winning yet unimpressive start to life under new promoters with a unanimous decision over Zach Parker in the Manchester arena.

The Olympic medal winner's activity level appeared to earn him a judges' verdict in a tight 10-round contest at the Manchester venue.

But the challenger had his moments, connecting with powerful single shots in a match where the approaches failed to mesh, with constant grabbing marring the fight.

The officials scored it 96-94 for to Buatsi, with the third a 95-95 draw.

"It wasn't my finest display but what do champions do? They prevail," the victor stated in the ringside as he was greeted with boos from the audience.

The Londoner bounced back after his first professional defeat - an thrilling contest with his previous opponent in last winter - to claim a twentieth professional win.

Various analysts thought Parker, thirty-one, deserved the victory but the contender endured the second defeat of his 28-match career.

Buatsi Earns Triumph in Uneventful Encounter

His career development has slowed in recent years through management issues and long spells of lack of fights.

Once tipped as the future of the British fight scene, he now stands trying to fulfil that early promise - perhaps in what appears to be a last chance - under recent support.

He started carefully, with neither fighter ready to take risks in a calculated early stages.

Parker, whose sole prior loss came at super middleweight against his former opponent in two years ago after breaking his hand mid-fight, was competing in only his second appearance at light heavyweight.

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

The crowd's patience wore thin because of regular grabbing, with Parker going down various instances during grappling.

The underdog closed well, but many rounds were hard to judge. Although, former world champion the boxing analyst - working with the broadcast network - had it particularly wide for the challenger, awarding Buatsi just only one stanza.

The victor moves on, but with the presence of power puncher David Benavidez, and Eastern European fighter Dmitry Bivol leading the category, the journey to titles - judging by this showing - still appears challenging.

Ricky Hatton Memorial Motivates All-Manchester Fight

In the co-main event, Arthur overcame Bradley Rea by close verdict in a terrific Manchester vs Manchester fight to win the European light heavyweight title.

The arena grew hushed for a profoundly moving homage before the fight as 10 bells sounded in honor of Manchester's own Ricky Hatton, who succumbed at age 46 in recently.

It was the first major televised boxing event in the city since the passing of Hatton. As the concluding sound disappeared, the quiet transitioned to a chant of "there's just one Ricky Hatton".

The action within the ring equaled the sentiment. The eventual winner was floored by a significant blow squarely on the jaw in the early round, getting up unsteadily to his feet on the referee's count.

But the traditional red shorts of the fighter soon pressed ahead again. From the other corner, the opponent - in opposing blue - was marked up quickly, significant bruising appearing under his orbital area as the fighters landed punishing blows.

The challenger, twenty-seven, connected with strong blows but the champion, 34, fought fire with fire with stinging uppercuts as the action rarely dropped over the full distance.

Arthur edged the verdict with judges scorecards of 114-114, close margin and wider gap, but the two athletes were determined and full of heart, all the qualities their inspiration Hatton embodied.