Dolan unlucky in rematch
Friday night on Sky Sports' first show of 2010 was a rematch between Commonwealth and British cruiserweight champion Rob Norton 32-4-2 (19) and David Dolan 13-2-1 (5). The first bout was an excellent if scrappy bout in which 5 knockdowns occurred but tonights rematch was much poorer.
Dolan who can be a smooth boxer, completely changed his style tonight and employed brawling pressure tactics throughout the bout in an attempt to trap the cagey Norton. From the first bell, action was scrappy with Dolan throwing lots of punches but looking wild with Norton holding and being wily. Norton as he often does, relied on popping out the southpaw jab and the odd wild hook which he had some success with.
In the third round, the men fell to the floor after a clinch and there was obvious needle between the two. Dolan then trapped Norton on the ropes and basically threw non stop punches for the last 90 seconds of the round. Many were not powerful but he was trying to slow the 37 year old champion down. The fourth and fifth were both close and it was a case of whether you liked the activity of Dolan or the odd clever counter from Norton.
At the start of the 6th both fighters exchanged decent punches. Norton landed an excellent combination but was warned by the referee for punching with the inside of the glove. The Sky team thought Dolan won the 7th but I felt he was falling in to Norton’s shots too often while the eighth was too close to call.
From the 9th round on, I felt that Dolan started to take over. He continued his high output punching, high pressure style but now there was not much coming back from a tiring champion. This continued in the 10th and in the 11th Norton looked desperately tired. With Norton’s corner telling him it was all on the last round, the older man tried to pick up the pace and landed a massive punch with 30 seconds to go but Dolan probably carried the last round.
I felt Dolan deserved the nod for winning the last four rounds but it was a close fight. I had Dolan up by 115-113 as did one judge. The second scored it 115-113 for Norton and the final judge had it all even at 114-114 meaning a draw and Norton retaining his titles.
Norton seemed pretty happy with the outcome with Dolan pretty upset by it. Dolan feels he should’ve been named the winner in both matches now (I agreed with the first fight result). Both fights have been gruelling and will more than likely take more out of the older man. It remains to be seen whether we see a 3rd bout between the two.
By JIMMY LAST (EDITOR)
