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UK light-heavyweight Buatsi made a winning yet underwhelming start to life under new promoters with a decision win over Parker in the Manchester arena.

The Olympic bronze medallist's punch output likely gained him a majority decision in a close 10-round bout at the Manchester venue.

But Parker landed significant shots, delivering effective clean blows in a fight where the styles failed to mesh, with constant grabbing disrupting the action.

Two judges had it 96-94 to the winner, with the third a 95-95 draw.

"It wasn't my best performance but what defines champions? They prevail," Buatsi commented in the arena as he was faced negative reactions from the crowd.

The British fighter got back to winning after his maiden career setback - an thrilling contest with Callum Smith in February - to secure a 20th pro success.

Various analysts felt Parker, thirty-one, merited the victory but the Derbyshire fighter endured the second defeat of his 28-fight professional journey.

The Champion Earns Win in Dull Encounter

His career development has plateaued in the past few years through promotional disputes and long spells of inactivity.

Earlier forecast as the future of UK boxing, he now finds himself trying to achieve expectations - maybe in what feels like a final roll of the dice - under new promotional backing.

He started carefully, with the two boxers willing to overcommit 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 during the bout, was competing in only his second bout at light-heavyweight.

By the halfway stage, the underdog had kept it close, causing problems for Buatsi, who operated with a tight guard to barely take the better rounds.

The crowd's patience decreased amid regular grabbing, with Parker going down several times during clinches.

Parker finished the stronger, but many rounds were difficult to score. Although, former world champion the boxing analyst - working with the broadcast network - had it strongly leaning for Parker, scoring for Buatsi just a single round.

The victor moves on, but with the presence of power puncher David Benavidez, and Eastern European fighter Dmitry Bivol leading the category, the path to championship success - on this evidence - still seems difficult.

Ricky Hatton Tribute Motivates All-Manchester Battle

In the secondary fight, Arthur defeated Bradley Rea by close verdict in a excellent Manchester vs Manchester battle to capture the European light heavyweight title.

The stadium fell silent for a extremely emotional memorial ahead of the contest as ten bells tolled in honor of local hero Hatton, who died aged 46 in September.

It was the initial significant broadcast fight night in the urban center since Hatton's passing. As the concluding sound faded, the quiet gave way to a roar of "there's only one Ricky Hatton".

The action within the ring reflected the feeling. The eventual winner was knocked down by a significant blow flush on the face in the second round, standing uncertainly to his footing on the referee's count.

But the red-colored equipment of the fighter soon came forward again. Across the ring, the opponent - in opposing blue - was marked up quickly, noticeable damage developing under his eye as the fighters exchanged punishing blows.

Rea, 27, connected with strong blows but the champion, 34, matched the intensity with stinging uppercuts as the intensity seldom decreased over 12 rounds.

Arthur barely secured the result with scoring tallies of 114-114, 115-113 and 115-112, but the two athletes were determined and courageous, exactly what their inspiration Hatton represented.