THE 27-year-old, who improved to 15-0 (14 KOs) in the paid ranks, looked noticeably disappointed at the conclusion of his 12-round bout against a gamely Italian opponent who boxed admirably but was second best throughout and looked to be hanging on as this bout entered the latter stages.
Noakes didn’t get the destructive stoppage he would’ve hoped for but as manager Francis Warren wisely mused during his post-fight interview, the Maidstone man has now banked 20 valuable rounds in little over four-and-a-half months and that should stand him in good stead as the opposition quality steadily increases.
On the TNT Sports broadcast, Francis said: “Rounds like tonight will prove invaluable when that opportunity does present itself, Sam’s European champion – by far and away the best and proved it against the mandatory.
He hadn’t done many [rounds] in 12-13 fights before that, won’t have to chase, he’ll fight his way into positions. We’ve won the WBO International belt [R4 win vs. Lewis Sylvester, Feb. 2024] so Denys Berinchyk is the natural route to take when it presents itself, no callouts, he’s going places and we’ll take our time.”
Berinchyk, who won the vacant WBO world lightweight title with a SD12 win over super-featherweight champion Emanuel Navarrete on May 18, is deemed the weakest of the four current 135lb titleholders. Fearsome Mexican puncher William Zepeda (31-0, 27 KOs) is ranked #1 across all sanctioning bodies and expected to challenge the Ukrainian in 2025, per Golden Boy Promotions boss Oscar de la Hoya.
WBC titleholder Shakur Stevenson makes his second defence against former IBF super-featherweight titlist Joe Cordina on the Artur Beterbiev vs. Dmitry Bivol undercard in five weeks’ time, WBA champion Gervonta Davis mooted to return in November while IBF champion Vasiliy Lomachenko will return after the new year.
In the post-fight briefing on TV, Steve Bunce and world champion-turned-analyst Carl Frampton were clear in their assessment.
While Noakes could’ve looked more clinical on another night where he was dominant against better opposition, it’ll stand him in good stead to continue operating at European level and build up more seasoning.
Don’t race to Berinchyk was the overwhelming sentiment from both.
“He knows he could’ve done differently, maybe finished [the fight] and applied more stuff, it got a bit quiet in here after a few rounds and when the fight’s one-sided, the crowd gets bored. He was disappointed about that,” said Bunce.
“Berinchyk is the weakest world champion but when you get at that level, you wanna be able to win and hold onto it [the world title] for a number of fights… he needs a few hard fights, few defences first and then that’s sensible,” offered Frampton.
Neither was wrong in saying that, though matching Noakes from here will not be an easy task. It’s one thing to outbox opponents not known to the wider public but noise surrounding an inevitable matchup with Mark Chamberlain only increases.
The EBU ratings have Cordina ranked #1 and a few notable names in the top-five rankings, including former Devin Haney opponent Zaur Abdullaev (19-1, 11 KOs) and Belgium’s Francesco Patera (29-5, 11 KOs) while the last two who boxed for EBU honours in Gavin Gwynne and Emiliano Marsili looked worse for wear last time out.
Three fights banked in 2024, there’s no rush for his next move having satisfied his mandatory challenger. As he disappears to rest-and-recover, we’ll wait for some news about the next plan of action, but much like promotional stablemate Denzel Bentley, he’ll have his eye on divisional matters over the coming weeks.
Full card results
Sam Noakes bt. Gianluca Ceglia via R8 retirement (TKO, eye injury) to retain EBU European lightweight title
Featherweight: Masood Abdulah bt. George Stewart via UD12 (118-110 x 3) to win vacant Commonwealth title
Light-welterweight: Steven Cairns bt. Ezequiel Gregores 60-54
Light-welter: Luke McCormack bt. Petr Brodsky via R2 TKO (2:08)
Middleweight: Joshua Frankham bt. Angel Emilov 59-55
Feather: Charlie Hickford bt. Darwing Martinez 39-37
Super-featherweight: Christian Bozzia bt. Joshua Ocampo 40-36
Light-welter: John Isaacs bt. Marek Cureja 40-36
Picture source: Queensberry, Getty — quotes sourced via TV broadcast
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