Sam Noakes defended European title with a stoppage over Gianluca Ceglia
Maidstone’s Sam Noakes (15-0, 14KO) defended his European title for the first time with a stoppage win over Gianluca Ceglia (21-5-1, 4KO) on Friday, September 6 at the York Hall.
The 27-year-old Kent puncher headlined the Queensberry Promotions show for the second consecutive time at the iconic Bethnal Green venue, live on TNT Sports.
Trained by Al Smith and Eddie Lamm at the bustling iBox Gym in Bromley, Noakes won the coveted blue belt against teak-tough Frenchman Yvan Mendy last April and was defending it for the first time to his mandatory challenger.
His army of fans, who only had an hours trip up the A2 to make, were rewarded with an eighth-round stoppage over the European Silver lightweight champion. The 34-year-old Italian won four fights on the spin after his last loss to Yvan Mendy, who took Noakes the distance for the only time in his career.
Prior to the championship contest, the WBC #11, WBO #5, IBO #10 lightweight told BBN that he was keen to get back to knockout wins, and he certainly lived up to his words.
From the first round, Noakes targeted the body and had the Italian backpedalling. A big left hook sunk into the body in the opener, but the durable Italian soaked it up.
In the second segment, Sam kept sinking shots into the body, doubling and tripling up on his attacks.
In rounds three and four, Ceglia was persistently trapped on the ropes, where Noakes was able to take his time to pick a variety of different shots to body and head. Ceglia is known for his high guard and use of his left hook, which he tried to fire back with constantly, so he was always a danger.
Despite Noakes firing his biggest body shots at an open target, Ceglia was able to absorb them all and landed his signature left hook whenever Noakes lingered just a little too long. By the fourth round, Noakes was loading up more power in his attacks and Ceglia’s right eye looked marked up.
Sam stayed on his jab, patient and persistent, constantly pushing the European back, who was moving laterally and flicking out the jab trying to keep the champion at bay. However, his activity had dropped significantly and his output was minimal.
After 21 minutes of one-sided action, Ceglia was badly marked up on his right eye and referee Fabian Guggenheim decided to stop the contest after the conclusion of round eight after a discussion with his corner.
There was very little coming back from the former European Union lightweight champion, who was stopped for just the second time in his 15-year career.
Noakes praised his plucky opponent post-fight, “You know what, I think his experience showed, it was a tougher fight than I thought it would be, but it was good rounds.
“You get it into your head, cos I knew he’s done a few rounds before, but as Al was saying in the corner even when I was just throwing nothingy jabs, he didn’t really have an answer.
“It was a good learning fight. I’ve still got a lot to learn, I’m not at my best yet and I think fights like this are gonna bring me on.”
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