By Mark Vester
At the Aston Events Centre in Birmingham, Rob Norton (30-4, 19KOs) won a wider than expected unanimous decision over David Dolan (11-2, 4KOs) to retain his British cruiserweight title, and added the vacant Commonwealth version.
There were five knockdown, with Norton going down twice and Dolan going down twice, though Dolan's knockdown were debatable. Some at ringside threw out boos when the decision was announced. Many felt the fight was a lot closer. The scores were 114-111, 115-110 and 116-109.
Norton went down twice in fourth, where he was nearly out and once in the eight. Dolan went down in the sixth and once more as the fight wore on. Both were questionable. The first was more of a push and the second was a shot in the arm where Dolan was in the ropes.
"I feel great. One of the knockdowns, I don't even remember to be honest, and the last one wasn't one, I just slipped. But to be fair the other one was a good one and he caught me well. I think it was a good fight for the fans, I'd like to see it on video. I think I was a little bit fitter than him in the long run, he tried to pick it back up in the last round but by then I think he was too far behind," Norton said.
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