UK light-heavyweight Joshua Buatsi earned a win yet unimpressive start to his career under recent management with a points victory over Zach Parker in Manchester.
The Olympic medal winner's work rate appeared to earn him a split decision in a tight ten-round bout at the boxing arena.
But Parker found success, landing some telling individual punches in a match where the approaches failed to mesh, with constant grabbing disrupting the fight.
The scoring judges judged it 96-94 for to the winner, with the remaining official a 95-95.
"It wasn't my finest showing but how do champions respond? They win," Buatsi commented in the arena as he was faced boos from the crowd.
The Londoner bounced back after his first professional defeat - an epic battle with his previous opponent in last winter - to claim a 20th career victory.
Various analysts believed Parker, 31, deserved the victory but the British boxer endured the second loss of his 28-bout professional journey.
The Champion Earns Triumph in Uneventful Encounter
Buatsi's progress has slowed in recent times through contract problems and considerable time of inactivity.
Previously predicted as the next star of British boxing, he now finds himself trying to fulfil that early promise - possibly in what seems like a ultimate opportunity - under new promotional backing.
He opened tentatively, with neither fighter willing to be aggressive in a cagey initial rounds.
The challenger, whose only previous defeat came at the lower weight class against his former opponent in 2022 after breaking his hand in the contest, was making just his second fight at light-heavyweight.
By the middle rounds, Parker had kept it close, creating difficulties for Buatsi, who operated with a protective stance to barely take the more effective stanzas.
The audience's tolerance decreased because of constant clinching, with the challenger falling to the floor various instances during grappling.
The underdog closed well, but multiple periods were hard to judge. Although, ex-champion the boxing analyst - working with the broadcast network - had it significantly in favor for Parker, awarding Buatsi just only one stanza.
Buatsi advances, but with the caliber of power puncher David Benavidez, and Russian star Dmitry Bivol dominating the weight class, the path to championship success - based on this performance - still seems difficult.
Ricky Hatton Tribute Inspires All-Manchester Fight
In the co-main event, Arthur beat Bradley Rea by split-decision in a excellent Manchester vs Manchester fight to win the European light-heavyweight championship.
The arena grew hushed for a profoundly moving memorial ahead of the contest as 10 bells tolled in remembrance of local hero Ricky Hatton, who died at age 46 in September.
It was the initial significant broadcast match card in the urban center since Hatton's passing. As the concluding sound ended, the silence gave way to a roar of "there's just one Hatton".
The competition inside the ropes equaled the emotion. The eventual winner was knocked down by a powerful punch squarely on the chin in the early round, standing uncertainly to his footing on the referee's count.
But the traditional red equipment of Arthur soon pressed ahead again. Across the ring, the opponent - in competitive blue - was marked up soon, significant bruising developing under his face as the fighters exchanged hard punches.
The challenger, 27, landed power punches but the champion, 34, fought fire with fire with powerful upward punches as the pace hardly diminished over the full distance.
The victor narrowly won the result with scoring tallies of even score, close margin and clearer margin, but both fighters were relentless and full of heart, all the qualities their inspiration Hatton stood for.
