UK light heavyweight Joshua Buatsi secured a victory yet disappointing start to life under new promoters with a unanimous decision over Zach Parker in Manchester.
The Olympic bronze medallist's punch output likely gained him a judges' verdict in a competitive ten-round fight at the Co-op Live Arena.
But the challenger found success, landing some telling single shots in a fight where the styles failed to mesh, with excessive holding disrupting the action.
The officials scored it 96-94 to the winner, with the third a 95-95 draw.
"It wasn't my finest performance but what do champions do? They succeed," the victor stated in the ring as he was faced disapproval from the spectators.
The British fighter returned to winning ways after his first professional defeat - an memorable fight with Callum Smith in February - to claim a twentieth professional win.
Various analysts believed Parker, thirty-one, should have been awarded the decision but the contender experienced the second loss of his 28-fight career.
The Champion Secures Triumph in Uneventful Affair
His career development has slowed in recent years through contract problems and extended periods of inactivity.
Earlier forecast as the rising talent of British boxing, he now is positioned trying to fulfil that early promise - maybe in what seems like a final roll of the dice - under recent support.
He started carefully, with neither fighter prepared to be aggressive in a cagey early stages.
The challenger, whose sole prior loss came at super middleweight against his former opponent in 2022 after suffering a hand injury during the bout, was making just his second fight at light heavyweight.
By the halfway stage, Parker had stayed in contention, creating difficulties for Buatsi, who utilized a protective stance to narrowly win the cleaner periods.
The crowd's patience wore thin because of frequent holding, with Parker slipping to the canvas various instances during grappling.
Parker ended stronger, but several stanzas were hard to judge. Nevertheless, former world champion the boxing analyst - commentating on the broadcast network - had it particularly wide for Parker, scoring for Buatsi just a single round.
Buatsi moves on, but with the caliber of power puncher David Benavidez, and Russian star Dmitry Bivol dominating the weight class, the journey to titles - based on this performance - still looks steep.
Ricky Hatton Tribute Motivates Local Rivalry Fight
In the co-main event, Arthur overcame Rea by split-decision in a terrific local rivalry contest to capture the European light heavyweight championship.
The arena fell silent for a profoundly moving memorial prior to the bout as ten bells sounded in honor of Manchester's own Ricky Hatton, who succumbed 46 years old in September.
It was the first major televised fight night in the location since Hatton's death. As the final chime faded, the silence transitioned to a shout of "there's only one Hatton".
The fighting within the ring equaled the feeling. The eventual winner was knocked down by a significant blow directly to the jaw in the early round, rising shakily to his position on the eight count.
But the traditional red equipment of the fighter soon advanced again. Across the ring, Rea - in rival City blue - was damaged quickly, noticeable damage appearing under his face as the pair exchanged hard punches.
The challenger, twenty-seven, landed power punches but the champion, thirty-four, responded in kind with stinging uppercuts as the action hardly diminished over 12 rounds.
Arthur narrowly won the verdict with judges scorecards of 114-114, close margin and wider gap, but each competitor were persistent and brave, everything their inspiration Hatton stood for.
