🔗 Share this article

UK light heavyweight Joshua Buatsi secured a victory yet unimpressive beginning to life under fresh promotional backing with a points victory over Parker in Manchester.

The Olympic medal winner's activity level seemingly secured him a majority decision in a tight ten-round fight at the boxing arena.

But the challenger landed significant shots, landing some telling individual punches in a fight where the approaches failed to mesh, with frequent clinching marring the action.

Two judges had it 96-94 for to the winner, with the third a even score.

"It wasn't my finest performance but how do champions respond? They prevail," the victor commented in the arena as he was faced negative reactions from the crowd.

The Londoner bounced back after his first professional defeat - an epic battle with Callum Smith in last winter - to earn a 20th pro success.

Several boxing experts thought the challenger, 31, deserved the victory but the contender endured the second loss of his 28-fight professional journey.

The Champion Claims Win in Slow Match

The fighter's advancement has slowed in recent times through contract problems and extended periods of inactivity.

Once tipped as the future of British boxing, he now is positioned trying to fulfil that early promise - possibly in what appears to be a ultimate opportunity - under recent support.

He started carefully, with the two boxers willing to take risks in a tentative early stages.

Parker, whose only previous defeat came at super middleweight against his former opponent in 2022 after breaking his hand in the contest, was participating in his second fight at light heavyweight.

By the fight's midpoint, Parker had kept it close, causing problems for the favorite, who worked behind a solid defense to narrowly win the cleaner stanzas.

The spectators' acceptance decreased during frequent holding, with the challenger slipping to the canvas several times during close exchanges.

Parker ended stronger, but many rounds were challenging to assess. Although, former world champion Carl Frampton - working with Dazn - had it strongly leaning for Parker, scoring for Buatsi just a single round.

The victor progresses, but with the presence of hard hitter Benavidez, and Eastern European fighter Bivol dominating the weight class, the road to world glory - based on this performance - still looks steep.

Hatton Homage Fuels All-Manchester Fight

In the co-main event, Arthur beat Bradley Rea by divided decision in a terrific local rivalry contest to win the European light-heavyweight belt.

The venue grew hushed for a profoundly moving tribute ahead of the contest as ten bells sounded in honor of the city's native Hatton, who died aged 46 in September.

It was the first major televised fight night in the location since Hatton's death. As the last bell ended, the stillness transitioned to a chant of "there's only one Hatton".

The action within the ring equaled the emotion. The eventual winner was sent to the canvas by a significant blow flush on the face in the early round, standing uncertainly to his feet on the referee's count.

But the red-colored shorts of Arthur soon advanced again. Across the ring, the opponent - in rival City blue - was marked up quickly, heavy swelling appearing under his orbital area as the fighters landed hard punches.

Rea, twenty-seven, connected with strong blows but Arthur, thirty-four, matched the intensity with powerful upward punches as the intensity rarely dropped over twelve rounds.

Arthur edged the decision with scoring tallies of even score, 115-113 and 115-112, but the two athletes were persistent and courageous, exactly what their hero Hatton represented.