Sam Noakes Comfortably Retains His European Title

Sam Noakes (15-0, 14 KOs) remains the European lightweight champion with an eighth-round technical knockout victory over Gianluca Ceglia (21-5-1, 4 KOs).

The official time of stoppage was 3:00 as Ceglia did not come out for round nine. With the win, Noakes defends the European title for the first time. He won the belt with a unanimous decision win against Yvan Mendy in April.

Noakes-Ceglia headlined a Queensberry Promotions card at York Hall in London, England. Fight fans in the United Kingdom could catch all the action on TNT Sports.

Sam Noakes Comfortably Retains His European Title

Fight Recap

Noakes gradually broke down his opponent over eight rounds. While Ceglia did come forward in the first, he was on the back foot by the end of the round. The Italian kept a tight guard early on, preventing the bout from having an early end. Despite this, Ceglia’s resistance weakened as the fight went on.

In the middle rounds, Ceglia appeared to be out of stamina. Noakes had to go to the ropes to land his shots. Following the conclusion of round eight, Ceglia was pulled out of the contest. This allowed Noakes to win via technical knockout and retain his European title.

He’s from Maidstone and his hands are made of stone 🥊🪨@samNoakes3 is going places 🔥#NoakesCeglia pic.twitter.com/vKLaNnTxIN

— Boxing on TNT Sports (@boxingontnt) September 6, 2024

Post-Fight Interview

Sam Noakes

“You know what? I think his experience showed,” said Noakes. “And I think it was a tougher fight than I thought it would be but it was good rounds…”

“I think, as Francis [Warren] said, we ain’t never seen this out here, calling people out the whole career. So we ain’t going to change it now. We’re just going to keep staying in our lane, keeping taking the fights that come up, keep stepping up every time. Listen, if that phone call rings and says there’s a world title next week, I’m taking it. That’s what we’re in the game for…We’ll just keep doing what we’re doing.”

Undercard Results

Masood Abdulah (11-0, 7 KOs) won a unanimous decision against George Stewart (7-1, 1 KO). Scores for the 12-round featherweight bout were 118-110 across the board. With the win, Abdulah wins the vacant Commonwealth title.

Steven Cairns (9-0, 5 KOs) won on points against Ezequiel Gregores (3-16, 0 KOs). Referee Lee Every had the six-round super lightweight fight 60-54.

Christian Fetti (2-0, 0 KOs) won on points against Joshua Ocampo in a four-round super featherweight contest. Referee Amy Pu had it 40-36.

Charlie Hickford (3-0, 1 KO) won on points against Darwing Martinez (8-23-2, 6 KOs) in a four-round featherweight contest. Referee Mark Bates had it 39-37.

Luke McCormack (2-0, 2 KOs) won via second-round technical knockout against Petr Brodsky (4-3, 3 KOs). The time of stoppage for this six-round super lightweight clash was 2:08. McCormack scored two knockdowns before referee Every put an end to proceedings.

Joshua Frankham (11-0, 2 KOs) won on points against Angel Emilov (11-57-3, 7 KOs). Referee Bates had the six-round middleweight fight 59-55.

John Isaacs (1-0, 0 KOs) won on points against Marek Čureja (2-3, 2 KOs) in a four-round super lightweight bout. Referee Bates had it 40-36.

Keano White (1-0, 0 KOs) won on points against Santiago Garces (4-32-5, 2 KOs) in a four-round super lightweight contest. Referee Every had it 40-36.