Unbeaten rising star Sam Noakes faces tough Italian in mandatory EBU title defence on September 6
The rise and rise of Sam Noakes (14-0, 13KO) has seen the mighty Maidstone man stop the first 13 of his 14 opponents, collecting English, Commonwealth, British and European lightweight titles, as well as WBC and WBO International titles to see him highly-ranked in the top 15 in the world.
Now Frank Warren’s undefeated European lightweight champion headlines for the second time in succession at the York Hall on Friday, September 6, against mandatory challenger, Gianluca Ceglia (21-4-1, 4KO).
The experienced Italian is a former European Union lightweight champion, and this will be his second shot at the EBU title; his first came against Yvan Mendy in 2022, losing on points for the fourth time in his 15-year career.
French veteran Mendy represents a shared opponent, the only one able to take Noakes the distance, just last April. Despite stretching Sam to the final bell, Noakes was able to dominate the Parisien to score a shutout at 120-108 on all three cards in his first headlining slot, also at the York Hall.
Ceglia was dominated himself by the French ‘Lion’, losing widely on all three scorecards at ringside – 117-110 and 116-111 twice.
Prior to Sam’s sole points decision, he had never entered double figures in a fight before, only reaching as far as the ninth round once. His knockout average is 3.5 rounds currently, and has stopped three of his unfortunate opponents in the third round and four in the fourth. His last four stoppages have all come before round five.
Having recently endured 12-rounds without scoring a knockdown, the powerful puncher is eager to restart his KO run, he enthused, “I’m just desperate to get back in winning and get my knockout streak going again.
“It’s a fight isn’t it, you are in there to fight, but I would like a knockout. I would like to get back on that.”
Noakes is showing improvements with each fight and he believes it’s down to enjoying his training camps, “They’re always enjoyable anyway, especially when you get to peak fitness. They’re worse at the start than they are at the end. At the start, you’re aching, you’re in bits, but then you’re just chomping at the bit. You get to the point where you just want to get in there and fight.”
Reflecting back on his last contest against Mendy, experiencing 12 rounds for the first time in his flourishing career so far, he described it as “a long time to be in there!”
He reassured, “To be fair, we prepare for that [12 rounds] every fight, it’s not like we’re cutting rounds short, I’m always doing 12 rounds in the gym, always working to that number.
“Because you never know. Even with this geezer [next]; he’s tough and durable, you can see that from his record, so it ain’t a guarantee, but this [KO] is something that I want.”
And the KO is not only something the Kent puncher wants, it’s something his fans are expecting too, “I hope I can do what everyone is expecting; I mean, to be fair, not that I’ve been feeling bad in other fights, but I am feeling good!
Ceglia carries a high guard, his gloves touching his forehead, meaning that he is quite open to the body, which is a speciality of Noakes, recently dropping Lewis Sylvester twice with body shots during their February fight for the vacant British lightweight title.
“He could probably take them all day long, that’s why his guard is high, it probably don’t bother him,” Noakes observed. “Like Mendy, his guard was high and he just ate them [body shots].
“We’ll see; I always target the body anyway, especially if they show me openings like that. We’ll see how it unfolds; some people can just take them.
“I am looking forward to getting back in there, and I’ve had a good little run of fights now, it’s sort of building that momentum again, and hopefully get another one back in end of the year, in December.
“So it’s just nice to see some structure there and everything is moving in the right direction. So, fingers crossed, I get in, do a number on this geezer like everyone thinks [I will], then onto the next one.”
Trained by Alan Smith and Eddie Lamm at the iBox Gym in Bromley, Noakes attempted to explain why he’s got such a high knockout ratio for a 135lbs fighter, “I’m quite good at reading body language, I suppose. Al [Smith] will tell you the same; if you watch Al when he gets in the corner, he looks over at the other geezer first, before he looks at me; as we’re stepping into the ring he’s looking over at the other bloke, just reading body language, and when he sits down in the other corner and things like that.
“But I’ve never been one to… so say if I was winning, I’m not really a showboater or anything like that. If I’m finding it easy then I’ll just drop the level a little bit and make it a little bit harder, I don’t want to be in there any longer than I have to.
“At the end of the day, you’re risking taking punishment, I’ve lost enough brain cells as it is, so I want to keep hold of the ones I’ve got!”
Sam shares his workplace with a plethora of prospects, rising stars, and even world champions. He reeled off a list of all the skilled colleagues within his stable, “You got me; Henry Turner; Skye Nicolson; Will Hamilton; Leli Buttigiec; and Frank Woods just joined.
“If I ever get a southpaw [opponent], Henry’s perfect [for sparring]. You just can’t hurt him!
“We’ve had another guy called Dennis in for sparring for this camp, he’s the weight above, but he’s ideal sparring for this fight; very tough, very game.”
Denis Denikajev is a former Southern Area and English super-lightweight champion, with just one loss on his record to Mikey Sakyi.
“We went down the Peacocks [Gym] to spar Billy Allington and one of their middleweights. I don’t go out sparring loads, really. We do two a week, so it’ll be like two eights [rounds], or one eight and a 10, which is plenty. The thing is fitness is never really an issue, to be honest.”
Before Noakes began collecting English, British, Commonwealth and European belts, he first bagged the WBC International Silver strap in his eighth fight. After five further defences of the green and gold belt, he’s now ranked #11 in the world lightweight rankings, #5 with the WBO and IBO #10.
The next step up from the European title is World, something Sam has been contemplating, “I think it’ll probably next year when I could challenge for a world title, that’s the aim anyway.
“I’ve got a couple more fights this year, but the thing is I’ve still only had 14 fights; I’m not saying that I’m not ready, but these guys at the top of the world have had like 30-35 fights, you know what I mean, they’ve had loads of fights.
“I’m in no rush, but if a world title opportunity came up at the end of the year, I’d grab it with both hands. I’m just waiting patiently for the opportunity, but realistically if it takes six-12 months then it’s not a bad thing.”
At 27-years-old, on the brink of reaching 15-0 – if all goes according to plan on September 6 – and ranked in the top 10 in the world, Noakes’ journey has been mapped out perfectly so far by seasoned promoter, Frank Warren.
After starting the pro career together in July 2019, when Noakes first signed with Queensberry, a world title win would put the cherry on top, “They have built my career very well, to be fair. I’m very happy with it,” noted Noakes.
And we all know what Mike Tyson once said about ‘a happy fighter’…
