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UK light-heavyweight Joshua Buatsi made a winning yet unimpressive debut to life under new promoters with a unanimous decision over Parker in Manchester.

The Olympic medal winner's punch output seemingly secured him a majority decision in a tight 10-round fight at the boxing arena.

But the challenger had his moments, delivering effective individual punches in a fight where the techniques didn't complement each other, with excessive holding marring the contest.

The scoring judges had it 96-94 to Buatsi, with the third a 95-95.

"It wasn't my finest display but what defines champions? They win," Buatsi stated in the ring as he was greeted with boos from the spectators.

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

Several boxing experts believed the challenger, thirty-one, deserved the victory but the British boxer experienced the second loss of his 28-bout professional journey.

Buatsi Earns Victory in Slow Encounter

The fighter's advancement has stalled in recent years through management issues and long spells of inactivity.

Once tipped as the next star of UK boxing, he now finds himself trying to achieve expectations - possibly in what appears to be a final roll of the dice - under recent support.

He opened tentatively, with both competitors willing to overcommit in a tentative opening few rounds.

The challenger, whose single earlier setback came at super middleweight against John Ryder in 2022 after breaking his hand during the bout, was participating in his second appearance at light-heavyweight.

By the middle rounds, Parker had made it competitive, causing problems for Buatsi, who utilized a tight guard to narrowly win the better periods.

The crowd's patience wore thin amid frequent holding, with Parker falling to the floor multiple occasions during clinches.

Parker ended stronger, but many rounds were difficult to score. Although, previous titleholder Carl Frampton - providing analysis for Dazn - had it strongly leaning for the challenger, awarding Buatsi just a single round.

The victor progresses, but with the likes of heavy hitter David Benavidez, and Eastern European fighter Dmitry Bivol dominating the weight class, the path to championship success - based on this performance - still appears challenging.

Hatton Memorial Motivates All-Manchester Contest

In the co-main event, Lyndon Arthur beat Rea by close verdict in a outstanding local rivalry battle to secure the European light-heavyweight title.

The arena grew hushed for a profoundly moving memorial before the fight as ten bells sounded in honor of the city's native Ricky Hatton, who died 46 years old in last month.

It was the initial significant broadcast boxing event in the city since Hatton's death. As the concluding sound disappeared, the stillness gave way to a roar of "only one Ricky Hatton".

The competition inside the ropes matched the feeling. Arthur was knocked down by a significant blow flush on the chin in the second round, getting up unsteadily to his footing on the referee's count.

But the traditional red attire of Arthur soon came forward again. From the other corner, the opponent - in rival City blue - was marked up soon, heavy swelling developing under his orbital area as the pair landed punishing blows.

The challenger, 27, landed power punches but Arthur, thirty-four, responded in kind with stinging uppercuts as the action hardly diminished over 12 rounds.

Arthur barely secured the verdict with scoring tallies of draw, narrow lead and 115-112, but each competitor were persistent and courageous, everything their hero the legend stood for.