UK light heavyweight Joshua Buatsi earned a win yet disappointing start to his career under recent management with a unanimous decision over Zach Parker in the Manchester arena.
The Olympic bronze medallist's work rate seemingly secured him a judges' verdict in a close 10-round contest at the boxing arena.
But the challenger landed significant shots, connecting with powerful individual punches in a match where the approaches failed to mesh, with frequent clinching disrupting the fight.
The officials scored it 96-94 to Buatsi, with the remaining official a 95-95 draw.
"It wasn't my finest showing but what do champions do? They prevail," Buatsi stated in the ringside as he was greeted with negative reactions from the audience.
The British fighter got back to winning after his first professional defeat - an thrilling contest with Callum Smith in last winter - to earn a 20th career victory.
Various analysts believed the challenger, thirty-one, merited the victory but the contender experienced the second setback of his 28-fight professional journey.
Buatsi Earns Win in Uneventful Affair
His career development has stalled in recent times through contract problems and long spells of inactivity.
Earlier forecast as the future of British boxing, he now finds himself trying to realize his potential - perhaps in what feels like a final roll of the dice - under recent support.
He opened tentatively, with the two boxers prepared to be aggressive in a tentative early stages.
Parker, whose sole prior loss came at the lower weight class against John Ryder in 2022 after breaking his hand during the bout, was participating in his second bout at light heavyweight.
By the fight's midpoint, Parker had kept it close, creating difficulties for the favorite, who utilized a tight guard to barely take the cleaner stanzas.
The crowd's patience diminished because of frequent holding, with Parker going down various instances during close exchanges.
Parker finished the stronger, but many rounds were difficult to score. Nevertheless, former world champion Carl Frampton - commentating on Dazn - had it strongly leaning for the challenger, giving Buatsi just a single round.
Buatsi moves on, but with the presence of heavy hitter Benavidez, and Russian champion Bivol dominating the weight class, the path to championship success - judging by this showing - still appears challenging.
Hatton Memorial Motivates Manchester Derby Battle
In the supporting bout, Arthur defeated Bradley Rea by divided decision in a terrific local rivalry contest to capture the European light heavyweight title.
The venue grew hushed for a extremely emotional homage prior to the bout as ten bells rang in memory of Manchester's own Hatton, who passed away 46 years old in last month.
It was the initial significant broadcast fight night in the urban center since Hatton's death. As the concluding sound faded, the quiet became a shout of "there's just one Hatton".
The fighting within the ring matched the emotion. The eventual winner was knocked down by a powerful punch flush on the face in the initial stage, rising shakily to his footing on the eight count.
But the red-colored shorts of the fighter soon came forward again. On the opposite side, the opponent - in opposing blue - was marked up quickly, noticeable damage developing under his eye as the duo landed punishing blows.
The challenger, 27, landed power punches but Arthur, 34, responded in kind with stinging uppercuts as the pace rarely dropped over the full distance.
Arthur narrowly won the decision with scoring tallies of even score, narrow lead and wider gap, but each competitor were determined and full of heart, all the qualities their idol Hatton embodied.
