ROB NORTON vs AKINYEMI LALEYE

THURSDAY UPDATE: Fight cancelled; it appears that Laleye made last-minute demands for more money; Hatton Promotions told him where to go — on an early flight home.

You could call Rob Norton a late bloomer. The veteran from Stourbridge in the English midlands is 37, but he gave one of his best-ever performances in his last fight when he survived two knockdowns to defeat the three-time national amateur champion David Dolan in a gruelling struggle for the British and Commonwealth cruiserweight titles.

Norton has signed a contract with Ricky Hatton’s promotional company, and on Friday he is featured in the chief supporting bout on the Lovemore Ndou-Matthew Hatton show when he defends his Commonwealth title against Akinyemi Laleye, the Florida-based Nigerian who competed in the latest Contender series.

Laleye, 28, was outpointed by Troy Ross and Rico Hoye in his last two bouts, both of which were on Contender shows. Before this, though, Laleye was on a run of five consecutive wins, which included outscoring Erick Vega and knocking out Alfredo Escalera Jr. in Contender bouts.

Norton, rather like Lovemore Ndou in the main event, is one of those older fighters who maintains a high level of fitness. The shaven-headed southpaw has a ripped physique and he showed his fitness when he outlasted the younger Dolan after looking to be on the edge of defeat in the early rounds.

Laleye probably has the classier moves and quicker hands, but Norton is strong and cagey and he is effective in an unorthodox way, sometimes moving his gloves around as if trying to mesmerise the other man before hitting him. I think that the Hatton Promotions deal will have given fresh impetus to Norton’s career, and I think he will be a bit too rough and tough for Laleye, who disappointingly went into a defensive mode of fighting after enjoying early success against Hoye.

It would not surprise me if Laleye went into an early lead on the scorecards, but I believe that Norton will begin to bully him by the middle rounds. Norton can bang a bit, with six stoppages in his last eight wins, and he scored three knockdowns in the wild fight with Dolan, so he clearly has a chance of becoming the second fighter to halt Laleye. I think, though, that a win by decision for Norton is the likely result.

Norton is much more experienced than his opponent and, to use an expression one hears in British boxing circles, I think he will “old man” his way to a win.