British light-heavyweight Joshua Buatsi made a winning yet disappointing debut to life under new promoters with a points victory over Zach Parker in Manchester.
The Olympic bronze medallist's punch output seemingly secured him a majority decision in a close ten-round fight at the Manchester venue.
But the challenger found success, delivering effective clean blows in a fight where the techniques failed to mesh, with constant grabbing marring the action.
The officials had it 96-94 to the winner, with the third a even score.
"It wasn't my finest performance but what defines champions? They prevail," the victor said in the ringside as he was faced negative reactions from the crowd.
The Londoner returned to winning ways after his first professional defeat - an memorable fight with his previous opponent in February - to secure a 20th career victory.
Some ringside observers felt Parker, 31, should have been awarded the win but the Derbyshire fighter suffered the second setback of his 28-match professional journey.
The Champion Secures Win in Slow Affair
His career development has stalled in recent years through management issues and long spells of inactivity.
Earlier forecast as the future of the British fight scene, he now finds himself trying to achieve expectations - maybe in what appears to be a last chance - under fresh management.
He began cautiously, with neither fighter ready to overcommit in a tentative opening few rounds.
Parker, whose single earlier setback came at the lower weight class against John Ryder in 2022 after damaging his hand during the bout, was competing in only his second bout at the higher weight class.
By the halfway stage, the underdog had stayed in contention, creating difficulties for the favorite, who worked behind a solid defense to barely take the more effective rounds.
The audience's tolerance wore thin during constant clinching, with the challenger falling to the floor several times during clinches.
Parker closed well, but several stanzas were challenging to assess. Nevertheless, ex-champion Carl Frampton - working with Dazn - had it strongly leaning for Parker, giving Buatsi just a single round.
The victor advances, but with the caliber of heavy hitter David Benavidez, and Russian champion Dmitry Bivol leading the category, the journey to titles - on this evidence - still seems difficult.
Hatton Homage Motivates All-Manchester Fight
In the secondary fight, Lyndon Arthur overcame Bradley Rea by close verdict in a outstanding local rivalry contest to secure the European light heavyweight belt.
The arena became quiet for a deeply poignant tribute before the fight as 10 bells sounded in remembrance of the city's native Hatton, who passed away at age 46 in recently.
It was the premier televised fight night in the urban center since the passing of Hatton. As the last bell disappeared, the stillness gave way to a shout of "there's only one Ricky Hatton".
The fighting within the ring reflected the feeling. Arthur was knocked down by a significant blow flush on the face in the second round, getting up unsteadily to his feet on the eight count.
But the Manchester United-red attire of the fighter soon advanced again. On the opposite side, Rea - in rival City blue - was marked up quickly, heavy swelling appearing under his eye as the fighters exchanged powerful shots.
Rea, 27, landed power punches but the champion, thirty-four, fought fire with fire with effective uppercuts as the intensity hardly diminished over the full distance.
Arthur edged the decision with scoring tallies of even score, narrow lead and wider gap, but both fighters were relentless and full of heart, all the qualities their idol the legend stood for.
