Trainer critical of officials following Dolan draw

Neil Fannan, trainer of David Dolan, has expressed his frustration after his fighter was denied becoming the new British and Commonwealth cruiserweight champion following his draw with holder Robert Norton at the Altrincham Leisure Centre on Friday night. Norton unanimously outpointed Dolan eleven months ago in an incident packed contest featuring five knockdowns but the challenger from Sunderland looked to have gained the upper hand in their rematch. 

However, after twelve gruelling rounds the judges were unable to split them this time. Judge Phil Edwards favoured Dolan by 115-114 while Birmingham’s Terry O’Connor scored it 116-113 for Norton from nearby Stourbridge. The third judge Dave Parris had it level at 114-114 allowing Norton to cling on to his titles.

“Obviously we’re very disappointed because we thought we’d done enough over 12 rounds to win it,” explained Fannan to BoxRec News. “I was apprehensive when I saw that Terry O’Connor was judging the fight again. He gave it to Norton by five points last time and this time he had Norton winning by three. I was also disappointed with Howard Foster (who handled the action on Friday night). I think Foster’s an excellent referee and one of the best in Britain but I thought he had a bad night. He warned Norton several times but didn’t take a point off him.”

Had referee Foster taken a point from Norton, it would have been enough for Dolan to seize the British and Commonwealth titles on a split decision. In fairness, the

Doncaster official had a busy evening and had to issue a stern warning to both fighters to tidy it up inside the opening minute and again in round three after they wrestled each other to the canvas. Norton did appear to be walking a tightrope with Foster as the fight wore on for a variety of transgressions but the official kept his patience resulting in Norton ultimately keeping his belts.

Fannan concedes though that his charge could have done more to make sure of the verdict.

“Dolan made a few mistakes during the fight. He failed to move his head at the very last second which saw him take some counters that he could have avoided. He also lead with his right hand which we told him not to do and neglected his jab.

“We thought Dave was winning the fight though and although he was making mistakes, we didn’t want him to stop doing what he was doing as it was working. Trying to get him to change half way through may have disrupted him, it may have made him wait that bit longer and we didn’t want him to start thinking about what he was doing. We just wanted him to concentrate on throwing lots of shots and keeping the pressure on,” explained Fannan.

The trainer will sit down with Dolan’s manager Dave Garside this week to discuss their options and have some flexibility as Dolan is currently a free agent promotionally.

“We’d like a third fight with Norton but we’ll have to wait and see if it happens. Norton said afterwards that they should do it again and his team came over to me before the verdict was announced and said ‘we think you’ve done us this time’. I don’t know how keen they are on fighting Dolan again though,” admitted Fannan.

“We hope that the Board will make Dolan mandatory challenger again. Other than Enzo Maccarinelli and Herbie Hide, Norton and Dolan are some way ahead of the rest of the cruiserweights in Britain. If we can’t get a rematch we may have to look at going for the English title. Given what Dave achieved in the amateurs (three-time ABA champion and Commonwealth Games gold medallist) he would be under achieving if he didn’t go on to win a major title in the pros.” 

Fannan also made known that the crestfallen Dolan is already seeing the positives despite suffering his latest setback in the professional ranks.

“David Dolan loves being a boxer, he loves training and he’ll be back in the gym soon. He regards Friday as a good learning fight for him but I told him that given his amateur experience he doesn’t need to be learning anymore. He’s more than ready to become a champion now,” said Fannon of the 30-year-old.  

The Hartlepool-based trainer also revealed that Michael Hunter, who retired after five rounds against Jason Booth in his unsuccessful challenge for the British super-bantamweight crown in October, is set for a comeback at featherweight. Fannon’s promising heavyweight, Chris Burton, is also close to returning after recovering from a bout of Swine Flu and a troublesome elbow injury that has kept him out of the ring for a year.