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

The Olympic medal winner's activity level appeared to earn him a majority decision in a competitive 10-round fight at the boxing arena.

But Parker found success, landing some telling individual punches in a match where the styles failed to mesh, with frequent clinching disrupting the contest.

The scoring judges judged it 96-94 to the winner, with the remaining official a even score.

"It wasn't my finest display but what do champions do? They win," the victor commented in the arena as he was met by disapproval from the crowd.

The Londoner got back to winning after his first professional defeat - an memorable fight with his previous opponent in last winter - to earn a 20th pro success.

Some ringside observers felt Parker, thirty-one, should have been awarded the victory but the Derbyshire fighter experienced the second defeat of his 28-fight career.

The Champion Claims Win in Uneventful Encounter

The fighter's advancement has slowed in the past few years through management issues and considerable time of lack of fights.

Once tipped as the future of British boxing, he now is positioned trying to fulfil that early promise - possibly in what seems like a final roll of the dice - under fresh management.

He started carefully, with both competitors prepared to overcommit in a calculated early stages.

Parker, whose single earlier setback came at the lower weight class against John Ryder in two years ago after breaking his hand during the bout, was making just his second bout at light heavyweight.

By the halfway stage, the underdog had kept it close, making life awkward for Buatsi, who worked behind a tight guard to edge the more effective rounds.

The crowd's patience decreased because of frequent holding, with Parker falling to the floor multiple occasions during grappling.

The underdog ended stronger, but many rounds were hard to judge. Although, ex-champion the boxing analyst - working with Dazn - had it strongly leaning for the challenger, giving Buatsi just a single round.

The victor moves on, but with the caliber of heavy hitter David Benavidez, and Russian star Dmitry Bivol leading the category, the path to championship success - judging by this showing - still looks steep.

Hatton Homage Motivates All-Manchester Contest

In the co-main event, Arthur defeated Bradley Rea by close verdict in a excellent local rivalry battle to secure the continental title.

The arena grew hushed for a profoundly moving tribute ahead of the contest as 10 bells tolled in remembrance of the city's native Hatton, who succumbed aged 46 in recently.

It was the first major televised match card in the city since the passing of Hatton. As the concluding sound ended, the silence transitioned to a roar of "there's only one Hatton".

The competition within the ring equaled the emotion. The eventual winner was sent to the canvas by a significant blow squarely on the jaw in the early round, getting up unsteadily to his footing on the count of eight.

But the Manchester United-red equipment of the fighter soon came forward again. On the opposite side, Rea - in competitive blue - was injured quickly, noticeable damage forming under his orbital area as the fighters landed hard punches.

The challenger, twenty-seven, landed power punches but the champion, 34, matched the intensity with powerful upward punches as the action seldom decreased over 12 rounds.

The victor barely secured the decision with official scores of 114-114, 115-113 and wider gap, but each competitor were relentless and brave, everything their idol Hatton stood for.