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UK light heavyweight Buatsi secured a victory yet disappointing debut to life under new promoters with a points victory over Parker in Manchester.

The Olympic medal winner's punch output likely gained him a judges' verdict in a close 10-round contest at the Co-op Live Arena.

But the challenger landed significant shots, connecting with powerful individual punches in a fight where the approaches never quite clicked, with excessive holding marring the contest.

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

"It wasn't my best display but what do champions do? They win," Buatsi said in the ring as he was met by boos from the crowd.

The Londoner got back to winning after his initial pro loss - an epic battle with his previous opponent in February - to earn a 20th pro success.

Various analysts thought Parker, 31, merited the victory but the British boxer endured the second defeat of his 28-fight career.

Buatsi Earns Win in Dull Encounter

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

Earlier forecast as the rising talent of UK boxing, he now is positioned trying to realize his potential - perhaps in what appears to be a ultimate opportunity - under recent support.

He began cautiously, with neither fighter prepared to overcommit in a calculated initial rounds.

Parker, whose only previous defeat came at super middleweight against his former opponent in two years ago after damaging his hand mid-fight, was competing in only his second appearance at light heavyweight.

By the halfway stage, Parker had kept it close, creating difficulties for Buatsi, who utilized a solid defense to narrowly win the cleaner stanzas.

The crowd's patience diminished during regular grabbing, with the challenger going down several times during clinches.

The underdog finished the stronger, but many rounds were challenging to assess. Although, previous titleholder Carl Frampton - providing analysis for the broadcast network - had it strongly leaning for Parker, scoring for Buatsi just a single round.

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

Hatton Memorial Motivates All-Manchester Fight

In the secondary fight, Arthur beat Rea by split-decision in a terrific Manchester vs Manchester battle to win the European light-heavyweight belt.

The venue became quiet for a deeply poignant memorial before the fight as 10 bells sounded in memory of Manchester's own Hatton, who died aged 46 in September.

It was the first major televised boxing event in the location since the passing of Hatton. As the last bell faded, the stillness gave way to a chant of "there's only one Ricky Hatton".

The competition during the bout equaled the feeling. The eventual winner was floored by a powerful punch flush on the jaw in the early round, standing uncertainly to his feet on the eight count.

But the traditional red shorts of Arthur soon pressed ahead again. From the other corner, Rea - in opposing blue - was injured quickly, significant bruising forming under his face as the duo exchanged punishing blows.

Rea, 27, landed power punches but Arthur, thirty-four, fought fire with fire with stinging uppercuts as the intensity hardly diminished over 12 rounds.

Arthur edged the result with official scores of 114-114, narrow lead and 115-112, but the two athletes were determined and courageous, everything their idol Hatton represented.