UK light-heavyweight Joshua Buatsi secured a victory yet unimpressive start to life under fresh promotional backing with a points victory over Zach Parker in the Manchester arena.
The Olympic medal winner's activity level appeared to earn him a split decision in a close 10-round fight at the Co-op Live Arena.
But Parker found success, connecting with powerful individual punches in a contest where the approaches failed to mesh, with excessive holding disrupting the action.
Two judges had it 96-94 in favor to Buatsi, with the remaining official a 95-95 draw.
"It wasn't my greatest performance but how do champions respond? They prevail," Buatsi commented in the ringside as he was greeted with boos from the audience.
The Londoner got back to winning after his maiden career setback - an thrilling contest with Callum Smith in February - to secure a twentieth professional win.
Various analysts felt the challenger, 31, should have been awarded the decision but the British boxer suffered the second loss of his 28-bout professional journey.
The Champion Earns Triumph in Dull Encounter
The fighter's advancement has stalled in recent times through management issues and extended periods of inactivity.
Previously predicted as the future of British boxing, he now finds himself trying to realize his potential - perhaps in what seems like a last chance - under fresh management.
He started carefully, with neither fighter prepared to be aggressive in a tentative initial rounds.
Parker, whose single earlier setback came at super middleweight against John Ryder in two years ago after suffering a hand injury mid-fight, was making just his second appearance at light heavyweight.
By the middle rounds, the underdog had kept it close, causing problems for Buatsi, who worked behind a solid defense to narrowly win the cleaner periods.
The crowd's patience decreased during regular grabbing, with the challenger going down several times during close exchanges.
The underdog closed well, but many rounds were hard to judge. Although, ex-champion the boxing analyst - providing analysis for the broadcast network - had it strongly leaning for Parker, awarding Buatsi just only one stanza.
The victor moves on, but with the caliber of heavy hitter Benavidez, and Russian champion Bivol dominating the weight class, the path to championship success - based on this performance - still looks steep.
Hatton Memorial Fuels All-Manchester Fight
In the supporting bout, Arthur defeated Rea by close verdict in a terrific local rivalry fight to secure the European light-heavyweight belt.
The stadium became quiet for a profoundly moving homage before the fight as 10 bells rang in memory of the city's native Hatton, who passed away aged 46 in September.
It was the initial significant broadcast fight night in the city since Hatton's passing. As the last bell disappeared, the stillness gave way to a roar of "there's just one Hatton".
The fighting during the bout matched the sentiment. Arthur was floored by a significant blow flush on the chin in the initial stage, getting up unsteadily to his footing on the eight count.
But the Manchester United-red shorts of the fighter soon came forward again. On the opposite side, Rea - in opposing blue - was marked up quickly, significant bruising appearing under his face as the pair exchanged hard punches.
The challenger, 27, landed power punches but Arthur, 34, matched the intensity with powerful upward punches as the action seldom decreased over the full distance.
The victor narrowly won the result with scoring tallies of draw, 115-113 and wider gap, but both fighters were persistent and brave, everything their idol Hatton represented.
