Rob Norton books British title defence

Frank Warren's bid to rival Sky Sports' coverage of boxing on his own TV channel will feature Stourbridge's Rob Norton final mission to claim a Lonsdale belt.

The British cruiserweight champion, who is now based in Kidderminster, will defend his title for a third time against Leon Williams on Friday October 21 at London's York Hall.

Norton will not box as planned on the October 8 bill at Walsall Town Hall as a result and returns to action after 21 months out of the ring.

Under the same Warren banner, Birmingham's Frankie Gavin will also take on world No 4 Diego Gabriel Chaves next month.

Gavin puts up his WBO Inter-Continental welterweight title against the Argentinan, the organisation's Latino champion, on Friday October 28 at a venue yet to be decided.

It's 'Funtime' Frankie's first fight since leaving trainer Anthony Farnell and moving from Manchester to London, to work under Jimmy and Mark Tibbs.

The fight will be screened on 'Boxnation,' which Warren already has in place, and will start staging live boxing next Friday night.

Warren is still under contract with Sky Sports to provide boxing on selected dates until next year but has already switched the WBO world title fight on October 15, between Nathan Cleverly and Tony Bellew, to his channel.

At the launch yesterday, Warren vowed to stage 40 shows live on TV over the next year on 'Boxnation,' which will initially be free-to-air but will become a £10-per-month subscription channel by the end of the year.

'Boxnation' have also signed an exclusive three-year deal with German giants Sauerland Promotions, to screen their shows from Europe.