UK light-heavyweight Joshua Buatsi secured a victory yet underwhelming debut to life under new promoters with a points victory over Zach Parker in Manchester.
The Olympic bronze medallist's activity level likely gained him a split decision in a competitive ten-round fight at the Co-op Live Arena.
But the challenger found success, connecting with powerful individual punches in a fight where the techniques never quite clicked, with excessive holding spoiling the fight.
The scoring judges scored it 96-94 for to the winner, with the remaining official a even score.
"It wasn't my best performance but what do champions do? They win," the victor stated in the ringside as he was met by boos from the crowd.
The Londoner returned to winning ways after his maiden career setback - an epic battle with Callum Smith in last winter - to secure a twentieth professional win.
Several boxing experts believed the challenger, 31, merited the decision but the British boxer suffered the second defeat of his 28-match professional journey.
The Champion Earns Win in Uneventful Affair
The fighter's advancement has stalled in recent times through promotional disputes and considerable time of inactivity.
Previously predicted as the future of British boxing, he now finds himself trying to realize his potential - maybe in what appears to be a final roll of the dice - under recent support.
He opened tentatively, with both competitors willing to be aggressive in a tentative early stages.
Parker, whose sole prior loss came at super middleweight against his former opponent in two years ago after breaking his hand during the bout, was making just his second appearance at the higher weight class.
By the fight's midpoint, the underdog had kept it close, creating difficulties for the favorite, who worked behind a protective stance to narrowly win the more effective stanzas.
The spectators' acceptance diminished during regular grabbing, with Parker going down various instances during grappling.
Parker finished the stronger, but many rounds were hard to judge. However, ex-champion Carl Frampton - working with Dazn - had it particularly wide for the challenger, awarding Buatsi just only one stanza.
The victor progresses, but with the likes of heavy hitter Benavidez, and Russian star Bivol dominating the weight class, the road to world glory - on this evidence - still seems difficult.
Hatton Memorial Inspires Local Rivalry Contest
In the co-main event, Arthur beat Bradley Rea by divided decision in a outstanding Manchester vs Manchester battle to secure the European light heavyweight belt.
The stadium fell silent for a extremely emotional tribute prior to the bout as a bell ceremony sounded in memory of the city's native Ricky Hatton, who succumbed aged 46 in recently.
It was the first major televised match card in the city since the passing of Hatton. As the concluding sound ended, the quiet became a chant of "there's only one Ricky Hatton".
The competition during the bout equaled the feeling. The eventual winner was knocked down by a left hook squarely on the face in the initial stage, rising shakily to his position on the count of eight.
But the red-colored attire of the fighter soon advanced again. Across the ring, Rea - in rival City blue - was marked up soon, significant bruising developing under his face as the fighters landed hard punches.
Rea, twenty-seven, landed power punches but Arthur, thirty-four, fought fire with fire with stinging uppercuts as the action rarely dropped over the full distance.
The victor barely secured the result with scoring tallies of even score, close margin and clearer margin, but each competitor were relentless and courageous, everything their inspiration the legend represented.
