UK light heavyweight Joshua Buatsi secured a victory yet unimpressive start to life under recent management with a points victory over Zach Parker in the Manchester arena.
The Olympic medal winner's punch output seemingly secured him a judges' verdict in a close 10-round fight at the Co-op Live Arena.
But Parker found success, delivering effective clean blows in a fight where the styles never quite clicked, with frequent clinching disrupting the contest.
The officials judged it 96-94 in favor to the winner, with the final judge a even score.
"It wasn't my best performance but what defines champions? They prevail," Buatsi stated in the arena as he was greeted with disapproval from the audience.
The Londoner bounced back after his initial pro loss - an thrilling contest with his previous opponent in last winter - to claim a twentieth professional win.
Several boxing experts believed Parker, 31, merited the victory but the British boxer suffered the second loss of his 28-match professional journey.
The Champion Secures Triumph in Slow Encounter
The fighter's advancement has plateaued in recent years through management issues and considerable time of lack of fights.
Once tipped as the rising talent of the British fight scene, he now stands trying to achieve expectations - perhaps in what feels like a final roll of the dice - under new promotional backing.
He began cautiously, with both competitors prepared to be aggressive in a calculated initial rounds.
The challenger, whose sole prior loss came at super-middleweight against John Ryder in two years ago after breaking his hand in the contest, was making just his second bout at light-heavyweight.
By the middle rounds, Parker had made it competitive, causing problems for the favorite, who worked behind a tight guard to barely take the more effective stanzas.
The audience's tolerance decreased because of frequent holding, with the challenger going down various instances during grappling.
The underdog ended stronger, but many rounds were hard to judge. Although, former world champion the boxing analyst - working with the broadcast network - had it significantly in favor for the challenger, scoring for Buatsi just one round.
The victor advances, but with the presence of power puncher Benavidez, and Russian star Bivol leading the category, the road to world glory - on this evidence - still appears challenging.
Ricky Hatton Memorial Fuels Local Rivalry Fight
In the secondary fight, Lyndon Arthur defeated Rea by split-decision in a outstanding local rivalry battle to win the European light heavyweight belt.
The arena grew hushed for a profoundly moving homage ahead of the contest as 10 bells rang in remembrance of Manchester's own Hatton, who succumbed 46 years old in recently.
It was the initial significant broadcast boxing event in the urban center since Hatton's death. As the concluding sound ended, the silence transitioned to a roar of "only one Ricky Hatton".
The competition inside the ropes matched the sentiment. Arthur was floored by a left hook squarely on the chin in the early round, standing uncertainly to his position on the eight count.
But the Manchester United-red attire of the fighter soon pressed ahead again. On the opposite side, the opponent - in rival City blue - was marked up early, significant bruising appearing under his eye as the duo traded powerful shots.
Rea, 27, connected with strong blows but the champion, thirty-four, fought fire with fire with powerful upward punches as the action hardly diminished over the full distance.
Arthur narrowly won the result with scoring tallies of 114-114, 115-113 and 115-112, but each competitor were relentless and brave, everything their hero Hatton represented.
