UK light-heavyweight Joshua Buatsi earned a win yet underwhelming start to life under fresh promotional backing with a decision win over Zach Parker in the Manchester arena.
The Olympic medal winner's activity level appeared to earn him a split decision in a close 10-round bout at the Manchester venue.
But the challenger found success, delivering effective individual punches in a fight where the styles never quite clicked, with constant grabbing spoiling the contest.
The scoring judges judged it 96-94 to the winner, with the final judge a even score.
"It wasn't my greatest showing but what defines champions? They prevail," Buatsi stated in the ringside as he was met by boos from the spectators.
The British fighter got back to winning after his first professional defeat - an epic battle with Callum Smith in last winter - to secure a 20th career victory.
Various analysts believed Parker, 31, deserved the win but the Derbyshire fighter experienced the second defeat of his 28-fight career.
The Champion Earns Triumph in Uneventful Encounter
The fighter's advancement has stalled in recent years through management issues and long spells of inactivity.
Previously predicted as the rising talent of UK boxing, he now is positioned trying to realize his potential - perhaps in what feels like a final roll of the dice - under fresh management.
He started carefully, with the two boxers willing to take risks in a tentative opening few rounds.
The challenger, whose sole prior loss came at super-middleweight against his former opponent in 2022 after breaking his hand during the bout, was competing in only his second appearance at the higher weight class.
By the fight's midpoint, Parker had kept it close, creating difficulties for Buatsi, who worked behind a protective stance to narrowly win the more effective stanzas.
The crowd's patience decreased because of regular grabbing, with the challenger falling to the floor multiple occasions during clinches.
The underdog finished the stronger, but several stanzas were hard to judge. Although, ex-champion the boxing analyst - working with Dazn - had it strongly leaning for the challenger, awarding Buatsi just a single round.
Buatsi progresses, but with the presence of heavy hitter Benavidez, and Eastern European fighter Bivol dominating the weight class, the path to championship success - on this evidence - still looks steep.
Hatton Homage Motivates All-Manchester Contest
In the secondary fight, Arthur overcame Rea by close verdict in a excellent Manchester vs Manchester contest to secure the European light-heavyweight belt.
The venue grew hushed for a profoundly moving homage prior to the bout as ten bells sounded in honor of Manchester's own Hatton, who succumbed aged 46 in last month.
It was the initial significant broadcast boxing event in the city since Hatton's death. As the last bell disappeared, the stillness became a chant of "there's just one Hatton".
The fighting inside the ropes equaled the feeling. The eventual winner was knocked down by a left hook directly to the face in the second round, getting up unsteadily to his position on the eight count.
But the red-colored shorts of the fighter soon pressed ahead again. Across the ring, the opponent - in opposing blue - was injured soon, heavy swelling forming under his orbital area as the duo traded hard punches.
The challenger, twenty-seven, delivered effective strikes but the champion, 34, responded in kind with stinging uppercuts as the intensity rarely dropped over 12 rounds.
Arthur narrowly won the decision with judges scorecards of 114-114, narrow lead and clearer margin, but each competitor were persistent and brave, exactly what their hero Hatton embodied.
