Sam Noakes Wants William Zepeda Next — But Berinchyk Comes First

Sam Noakes hasn't been champion yet, but he's already picked out the fight he wants most. The Maidstone lightweight, 18-1 with 16 knockouts, told this week he'd jump at a shot against newly-crowned titlist William Zepeda — a clash he reckons would be one hell of a scrap. First, though, there's business on Saturday: Noakes faces former world champion Denys Berinchyk (19-1, 9 KO) in chief support to Moses Itauma vs Filip Hrgovic.

The Zepeda talk isn't idle. Noakes sits at No.4 with the WBC and remains highly rated by the WBO off the back of his November loss to Abdullah Mason — a fiercely-contested unanimous decision for the WBO strap. Beat Berinchyk, a man who only lost his title to Keyshawn Davis in a fourth-round stoppage, and 'Midge' has a genuine case as Zepeda's next mandatory headache.

The Mason Lesson

That defeat to Mason still stings, and Noakes doesn't hide it. He called it his career-best performance — the fittest and strongest he's ever been — and still came up short against a 21-0 fighter he now rates as one of the sport's finest young talents. He expected speed and power for six rounds; what surprised him was Mason's durability down the stretch, holding it together when Noakes was banking on a fade that never came.

The aftermath was ugly. Noakes said he drew stares walking through a Saudi airport, and a woman on his flight home asked what on earth had happened to him. He looked like he'd taken a hiding, he admitted, even in a close fight. The sourest part? Mason woke up sore too — but Mason won. Noakes was left struggling to chew his food with nothing to show for it.

Winning the Hard Way

That's the promise he's made to himself and coach Al Smith: he's got more performances like that in the tank, but next time the 12-rounder is a war, he has to be the one whose hand goes up. It fits his style. Noakes comes forward, works at a high output, and accepts he sometimes has to eat one to land one — a trade that adds up over a career.

To offset the wear, he's taken up a slightly unexpected hobby: learning Spanish, purely to keep his brain firing while it's absorbing punches. He's not fluent yet — give him another year, he says. Which is convenient, because in twelve months he might just need enough of it to sit across from Zepeda and demand the WBC belt in the champion's own language.