Norton controversially loses British crown

Rob Norton's three-year stranglehold on the British cruiserweight title is over.

The Stourbridge southpaw [pictured with both the British and Commonwealth straps] controversially surrendered his treasured title on a split 12-round decision to underdog Leon Williams, last night [October 21] on a Queensbury Promotions card at York Hall, Bethnal Green, after seemingly putting eight of the first nine sessions in the bag.

But remarkably, only one of the the three scoring judges [Northampton's John Keane, who marked 115-114] had the champion retaining his title, with Richie Davies [116-114] and Ian-John Lewis [116-113] handing the victory to the Londoner.

For the record, i had the West Midlander a handy 117-111 victor [or 9-3 in rounds] and i wasn't alone. Steve Bunce, in the studio for BoxNation, had Norton winning ten of the 12, and ex-pros Peter Buckley and Sam Horton, along with current paid fighters James Flinn and Paul Butlin, all had the now-ex-champion a comfortable winner.

Norton would have won the Lonsdale Belt outright had he done anything but lost and the reality is he isn't likely to be given a rematch, with the 36-minute scrap only fizzling into life in the final nine minutes. But this is nothing new. The 39-year-old did what he's always been known for: waiting for his opponent to walk onto his portside-leading, counter-punching blows. That Williams wouldn't do that for the majority of the bout is no fault of Rob's.

And the first 18 minutes followed a pattern of Norton, loose, relaxed and with a customary non-existent, wide-armed defence, circling the peripheries of the ring waiting for the 27-year-old Southern Area boss, who was nervous, stiff and hesitant to let his hands go, to fulfill his pre-fight boasts to "put it on him".

Williams' nose was bloodied early by the flicking lead of the Errol Johnson-trained Black Countryman, now 32-5-2 (19), and his rare attacks were either slipped on the ropes or nonchalantly parried away. But he let his hands go more in the seventh, rattling in left-rights as he managed to close the gap, and his legion of supporters found their voices when another right hand slammed home moments later.

Yet normal service seemed to have been resumed in rounds eight and nine, with Norton pot-shoting a more-lively challenger who finally seemed to have found his self-belief. And that was re-enforced in the final three stanzas. Williams teed-off in the tenth - the former English and Commonwealth boss content to try and roll with the punches on the ropes - and though i thought the champion edged the eleventh, the final session undoubtedly belonged to the then-challenger.

Though Leon, now with nine wins in 12 outings [four early], reiterated he was now the British champion in the ringside interview afterwards, it wasn't a speech from a fighter who truly believed he'd took the title. But this could be the making of the hard-hitting Johnny Eames-trained Streatham boxer. He's rebounded from early career defeats to Hastings Rasani and, in February, a two-round knockout defeat by Rik Turba, and is likely to meet the winner of Tony Conquest and Toks Owoh in 2012.

For Norton, however, this could be the end. Well-known for long spells of inactivity - he was coming off 21 months without a fight entering - it's difficult to see him getting many offers of fights and even more difficult seeing him getting a rematch the majority would agree he deserves.