Sam Noakes.
FederPugilistica
Undefeated Englishman Sam Noakes retained his European lightweight title by knocking out Italian Gianluca Ceglia in the eighth round on Friday in the main event of a card that took place at York Hall in London, England.
Noakes, who also holds the British and Commonwealth lightweight titles, did not put in a spectacular crowd-pleasing performance but had a comfortable night’s work and tore Ceglai apart.
After being taken the distance for the first time by Yvan Mendy in April, Noakes (15-0, 14 KOs) will be happy to have started another knockout streak.
Noakes looked strong as he calmly moved forward while the jittery Ceglia (21-5-1, 4 KOs) was a ball of nervous energy. Noakes scored with a jab but, although he was a little slow to get going, the Italian seemed wary of the 27-year-old’s power.
This was Cegila’s second attempt at the prestigious title, but he certainly didn’t look like he had arrived in London with any grim determination to seize the belt. He had a worried look on his face and was struggling to keep his mouthguard on as Noakes tried to find a gap in his high guard.
The 27-year-old champion won every minute of every round, and as each round passed, Ceglia’s effort waned. The 34-year-old’s face began to show signs of pain, but the end was near and, at the end of the eighth round, he spoke to his trainer Gaetano Nesparo, indicating that he had a problem on the right side of his face. This was reported to referee Fabian Guggenheim, who stopped the fight moments later.
“His experience showed,” Noakes later said of his opponent.
“He was a tougher fighter than I thought. But even when he was throwing punches, he had no answer. It was a good educational fight. Everyone talks about these great fighters, but I only had 15 fights. I have a lot to learn, and fights like this will really take me to the next level.”
With this result, Noakes improved his record to 15-0, with 14 knockouts, while Ceglia fell to 21-5-1, with 4 knockouts.
In the main undercard bout, Masood Abdulah became the new Commonwealth featherweight champion after outpointing George Stewart in 12 rounds.
It was a good performance as he had to go all out against Stewart, who surprised the fans. Masood showed his class in the end, winning on all three judges’ cards by 118-110 margins.
With this result, Abdulah improved his record to 11-0 with 7 knockouts, while Stewart fell to 7-1, with one knockout.
Super lightweight Steven Cairns (9-0, 5 KOs) won by decision in six rounds over Argentine Ezequiel Gregores (3-16); super featherweight Christian Fetti scored a routine victory in four rounds over Colombian Joshua Ocampo.
Fetti, 2-0, led throughout the fight. The colorful Ocampo, 8-28-5, 6 KOs, offered little offensively but was able to survive against the inexperienced 22-year-old from St Albans. The 40-36 scorecard in favor of Fetti was a formality.
