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

The Olympic bronze medallist's activity level seemingly secured him a majority decision in a close 10-round fight at the Manchester venue.

But Parker found success, delivering effective individual punches in a match where the styles never quite clicked, with excessive holding spoiling the fight.

The scoring judges judged it 96-94 for to the winner, with the remaining official a 95-95.

"It wasn't my finest performance but what defines champions? They prevail," Buatsi commented in the ring as he was faced disapproval from the audience.

The Londoner returned to winning ways after his maiden career setback - an epic battle with his previous opponent in February - to claim a twentieth professional win.

Several boxing experts believed the challenger, 31, merited the win but the Derbyshire fighter suffered the second setback of his 28-match professional journey.

Buatsi Earns Triumph in Dull Match

His career development has plateaued in recent years through promotional disputes and long spells of inactivity.

Earlier forecast as the next star of British boxing, he now stands trying to fulfil that early promise - possibly in what appears to be a final roll of the dice - under new promotional backing.

He started carefully, with neither fighter willing to take risks in a calculated opening few rounds.

The challenger, whose only previous defeat came at super middleweight against John Ryder in two years ago after breaking his hand in the contest, was making just his second appearance at the higher weight class.

By the halfway stage, Parker had stayed in contention, making life awkward for Buatsi, who worked behind a tight guard to barely take the cleaner stanzas.

The spectators' acceptance diminished because of regular grabbing, with Parker slipping to the canvas several times during clinches.

Parker closed well, but multiple periods were difficult to score. Although, previous titleholder Carl Frampton - working with the broadcast network - had it significantly in favor for Parker, giving Buatsi just one round.

Buatsi moves on, but with the presence of power puncher David Benavidez, and Eastern European fighter Dmitry Bivol leading the category, the journey to titles - on this evidence - still seems difficult.

Hatton Memorial Motivates Local Rivalry Contest

In the co-main event, Lyndon Arthur beat Bradley Rea by split-decision in a terrific local rivalry fight to capture the European light heavyweight championship.

The arena fell silent for a extremely emotional tribute before the fight as a bell ceremony sounded in memory of Manchester's own Hatton, who passed away 46 years old in September.

It was the premier televised boxing event in the city since the passing of Hatton. As the concluding sound disappeared, the quiet became a roar of "there's only one Ricky Hatton".

The competition during the bout reflected the emotion. The eventual winner was floored by a significant blow squarely on the face in the initial stage, getting up unsteadily to his footing on the referee's count.

But the traditional red equipment of Arthur soon came forward again. Across the ring, Rea - in opposing blue - was damaged early, noticeable damage developing under his eye as the pair traded punishing blows.

The challenger, twenty-seven, landed power punches but Arthur, 34, fought fire with fire with effective uppercuts as the intensity seldom decreased over twelve rounds.

The victor narrowly won the decision with official scores of 114-114, narrow lead and wider gap, but each competitor were relentless and courageous, everything their idol Hatton embodied.