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British light heavyweight Buatsi secured a victory yet disappointing debut to life under fresh promotional backing with a unanimous decision over Parker in the Manchester arena.

The Olympic medal winner's activity level seemingly secured him a split decision in a tight 10-round fight at the Manchester venue.

But the challenger landed significant shots, delivering effective single shots in a fight where the styles didn't complement each other, with excessive holding marring the contest.

The officials judged it 96-94 in favor to the winner, with the third a 95-95 draw.

"It wasn't my finest display but what defines champions? They succeed," the victor said in the ring as he was met by disapproval from the crowd.

The British fighter returned to winning ways after his initial pro loss - an memorable fight with Callum Smith in February - to secure a twentieth professional win.

Various analysts felt the challenger, 31, merited the win but the British boxer suffered the second loss of his 28-fight career.

Buatsi Claims Win in Uneventful Match

Buatsi's progress has plateaued in recent years through management issues and extended periods of lack of fights.

Once tipped as the rising talent of UK boxing, he now is positioned trying to fulfil that early promise - maybe in what feels like a final roll of the dice - under new promotional backing.

He started carefully, with neither fighter willing to take risks in a tentative early stages.

The challenger, whose sole prior loss came at super-middleweight against his former opponent in 2022 after damaging his hand during the bout, was participating in his second fight at light-heavyweight.

By the middle rounds, Parker had made it competitive, causing problems for the favorite, who worked behind a protective stance to edge the better stanzas.

The audience's tolerance diminished because of constant clinching, with Parker going down several times during grappling.

The underdog closed well, but several stanzas were challenging to assess. However, former world champion the boxing analyst - working with Dazn - had it significantly in favor for the challenger, scoring for Buatsi just a single round.

Buatsi progresses, but with the likes of hard hitter David Benavidez, and Eastern European fighter Dmitry Bivol dominating the weight class, the journey to titles - based on this performance - still appears challenging.

Ricky Hatton Homage Motivates Manchester Derby Contest

In the co-main event, Lyndon Arthur defeated Rea by divided decision in a terrific local rivalry fight to secure the continental belt.

The venue grew hushed for a extremely emotional memorial prior to the bout as 10 bells rang in memory of Manchester's own Ricky Hatton, who succumbed at age 46 in last month.

It was the first major televised match card in the location since Hatton's passing. As the last bell disappeared, the silence gave way to a roar of "only one Ricky Hatton".

The fighting within the ring equaled the emotion. The eventual winner was floored by a left hook squarely on the face in the second round, rising shakily to his position on the referee's count.

But the red-colored equipment of the fighter soon pressed ahead again. Across the ring, Rea - in competitive blue - was marked up soon, significant bruising appearing under his face as the duo traded hard punches.

The challenger, twenty-seven, connected with strong blows but the champion, 34, matched the intensity with stinging uppercuts as the intensity rarely dropped over 12 rounds.

Arthur narrowly won the decision with scoring tallies of even score, 115-113 and 115-112, but each competitor were relentless and brave, everything their hero Hatton stood for.