Frank Warren exclusive: Sam Noakes is one of the most exciting fighters out there
From ‘Dynamite’ Daniel Dubois up at heavyweight down to Liam Davies at super bantamweight, Frank Warren has assembled a group of the most exciting fighters in world boxing. This Friday night, the Hall of Fame promoter rolls his lightweight destroyer back into action. For all the latest fight odds, visit our sportsbook.
“Sam Noakes, he’s probably one of the most exciting fighters out there. We’ve got Sam, Nick Ball, Andrew Cain, all just very exciting fighters,” Warren told 32Red. “He’s in there for the European title this weekend. His last fight was the first time he’s been the distance and it was a very controlled performance.
“This is a big, big fight”
“I think he could have stopped the fella but he got the rounds under his belt. He showed he’s got an engine. He’s got tremendous work rate and this is a big, big fight for him.”
Noakes, 14-0 (13 KOs), has been an exciting, entertaining fighter to watch since his debut five years ago but, over the past few months, he has taken things to a different level. Blasting through the solid Carlos Perez and Lewis Sylvester to collect the WBC International Silver and the British and Commonwealth titles and then calmly outboxing the world level Yvan Mendy to add the European title to his collection.
Noakes is still only 14 fights into his career but the 27-year-old from Maidstone has made rapid progress and Warren sees him following in some famous footsteps as he makes his way towards an all-British superfight.
“If he comes through this, obviously the big domestic bust up is going to be between him and Mark Chamberlain down the road,” Warren said.
“We’re keeping him very busy”
“All we’re doing is keeping him very busy and keeping him out there. His next time out, he will be fighting on a big card.
“If you look at the amount of fights he’s had and if you look at, say, Nigel Benn years ago, Nigel, it took him, what, about 14 fights, 15 fights [to reach] the same situation before he went to the bigger venues.
“Sometimes it’s taken fighters 25 fights before they fought for a British title. Now, it’s 10 or 12 fights and some of them are having 10 rounders after eight or nine fights.
“I think he should do well. Sam and his brother [Sean, the unbeaten welterweight], they’ve both got good heads on their shoulder. Him and Francis [Warren, his manager] have got a good rapport. He’s managing him well, and Alan [Smith, his trainer] is doing a great job in the gym. Between them, it’s a good combination.”
“I think it’s going to be a mega fight”
Chamberlain has been making waves of his own. The puncher from Portsmouth has racked up two spectacular wins in Saudi Arabia and fights Josh Padley at Wembley Stadium on September 21st. Warren believes that the pieces are falling into place for an all-British thriller.
“I think it’s going to be a mega fight,” he said. “I wouldn’t do it yet, I want to wait. Sometimes we do fights earlier, sometimes later. But I think as far as they’re concerned, with their styles, they’re both big punchers, they’ve both got good stories. I genuinely feel that – for me – that would definitely be like an O2 fight and it’ll sell out because you know it’s going to be exciting.”
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