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UK light heavyweight Buatsi made a winning yet disappointing start to life under recent management with a unanimous decision over Zach Parker in the Manchester arena.

The Olympic medal winner's punch output seemingly secured him a majority decision in a competitive 10-round fight at the Co-op Live Arena.

But Parker found success, connecting with powerful individual punches in a match where the approaches didn't complement each other, with excessive holding disrupting the contest.

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

"It wasn't my best showing but how do champions respond? They prevail," Buatsi commented in the ringside as he was greeted with disapproval from the crowd.

The Londoner bounced back after his first professional defeat - an memorable fight with Callum Smith in February - to claim a 20th career victory.

Several boxing experts felt Parker, 31, merited the decision but the contender experienced the second setback of his 28-match career.

The Champion Claims Win in Uneventful Encounter

His career development has slowed in the past few years through promotional disputes and long spells of lack of fights.

Earlier forecast as the future of the British fight scene, he now is positioned trying to achieve expectations - maybe in what appears to be a final roll of the dice - under new promotional backing.

He began cautiously, with neither fighter ready to take risks in a tentative initial rounds.

The challenger, whose sole prior loss came at super-middleweight against his former opponent in two years ago after suffering a hand injury in the contest, was participating in his second appearance at the higher weight class.

By the fight's midpoint, Parker had made it competitive, causing problems for the favorite, who worked behind a protective stance to edge the more effective rounds.

The spectators' acceptance diminished during constant clinching, with the challenger going down multiple occasions during grappling.

Parker ended stronger, but multiple periods were hard to judge. However, previous titleholder Carl Frampton - providing analysis for the broadcast network - had it particularly wide for Parker, giving Buatsi just a single round.

The victor moves on, but with the caliber of hard hitter David Benavidez, and Eastern European fighter Bivol ruling the division, the road to world glory - on this evidence - still looks steep.

Hatton Homage Motivates Local Rivalry Fight

In the secondary fight, Lyndon Arthur beat Bradley Rea by close verdict in a outstanding Manchester vs Manchester contest to win the continental championship.

The arena became quiet for a deeply poignant memorial prior to the bout as 10 bells sounded in honor of Manchester's own Hatton, who passed away aged 46 in September.

It was the first major televised match card in the urban center since Hatton's death. As the final chime faded, the stillness became a chant of "there's only one Hatton".

The competition during the bout matched the sentiment. The eventual winner was sent to the canvas by a significant blow directly to the face in the early round, getting up unsteadily to his footing on the eight count.

But the red-colored equipment of Arthur soon advanced again. From the other corner, the opponent - in rival City blue - was injured quickly, significant bruising appearing under his eye as the pair exchanged powerful shots.

The challenger, twenty-seven, connected with strong blows but the champion, 34, fought fire with fire with effective uppercuts as the pace hardly diminished over 12 rounds.

The victor edged the decision with scoring tallies of even score, narrow lead and wider gap, but each competitor were persistent and brave, all the qualities their inspiration Hatton represented.