UK light-heavyweight Joshua Buatsi secured a victory yet unimpressive debut to life under new promoters with a decision win over Zach Parker in Manchester.
The Olympic bronze medallist's work rate seemingly secured him a judges' verdict in a tight ten-round fight at the boxing arena.
But the challenger found success, landing some telling clean blows in a fight where the approaches never quite clicked, with frequent clinching marring the action.
Two judges had it 96-94 for to the winner, with the final judge a 95-95 draw.
"It wasn't my greatest performance but how do champions respond? They win," Buatsi stated in the ring as he was greeted with negative reactions from the crowd.
The Londoner returned to winning ways after his initial pro loss - an thrilling contest with his previous opponent in February - to earn a twentieth professional win.
Some ringside observers believed the challenger, thirty-one, should have been awarded the victory but the Derbyshire fighter experienced the second loss of his 28-match career.
The Champion Claims Victory in Uneventful Match
Buatsi's progress has slowed in recent times through promotional disputes and long spells of lack of fights.
Earlier forecast as the future of British boxing, he now stands trying to achieve expectations - perhaps in what feels like a ultimate opportunity - under fresh management.
He started carefully, with neither fighter prepared to overcommit in a tentative early stages.
The challenger, whose only previous defeat came at super-middleweight against his former opponent in two years ago after damaging his hand mid-fight, was competing in only his second fight at the higher weight class.
By the halfway stage, Parker had kept it close, making life awkward for the favorite, who operated with a tight guard to barely take the more effective periods.
The audience's tolerance diminished during frequent holding, with Parker slipping to the canvas several times during grappling.
Parker ended stronger, but many rounds were challenging to assess. However, ex-champion Carl Frampton - working with Dazn - had it strongly leaning for the challenger, awarding Buatsi just one round.
Buatsi advances, but with the caliber of heavy hitter Benavidez, and Russian champion Bivol dominating the weight class, the road to world glory - based on this performance - still seems difficult.
Hatton Memorial Motivates All-Manchester Battle
In the secondary fight, Lyndon Arthur defeated Rea by split-decision in a outstanding local rivalry contest to secure the European light heavyweight belt.
The stadium grew hushed for a deeply poignant homage ahead of the contest as ten bells tolled in memory of Manchester's own Hatton, who succumbed 46 years old in recently.
It was the first major televised match card in the location since the passing of Hatton. As the final chime disappeared, the silence gave way to a chant of "there's only one Ricky Hatton".
The fighting during the bout equaled the feeling. Arthur was knocked down by a significant blow flush on the face in the early round, getting up unsteadily to his footing on the referee's count.
But the Manchester United-red attire of Arthur soon advanced again. From the other corner, the opponent - in competitive blue - was marked up soon, heavy swelling forming under his orbital area as the pair landed hard punches.
Rea, 27, delivered effective strikes but Arthur, 34, fought fire with fire with powerful upward punches as the intensity hardly diminished over the full distance.
Arthur edged the verdict with scoring tallies of draw, narrow lead and 115-112, but each competitor were relentless and courageous, all the qualities their inspiration Hatton embodied.
