Sam Noakes Faces Uphill Battle Against Undefeated Power-Puncher Abdullah Mason For The WBO Lightweight Championship

Sam Noakes’ promoter, Frank Warren, wants to stage the lightweight clash against Abdullah Mason in the UK to give Noakes home advantage in their fight for the vacant WBO 135-lb title.

It’s a fight that Noakes (17-0, 15 KOs) is going to need every advantage he can get for him to have a chance of winning because he’s up against it fighting a talent like Mason (19-0, 17 KOs).

“It’s a great fight. It’s a really competitive fight, and it’s been ordered. So, it’s going to happen,” said Frank Warren to BoxNation about the Abdullah Mason vs. Sam Noakes clash for the vacant WBO lightweight title.

We could see a blowout win for Abdullah Mason in this fight because Noakes is tailor-made for him to dismantle. If you were to create a fighter in a factory in a Frankenstein manner, specifically for Mason to knock out, you’d get Noakes. He’s just a basic come-forward type of fighter who blocks punches with his face.

“Very much,” said Warren when asked how determined he is to bring the Mason vs. Noakes fight to the UK. “Sometimes you want to get the home advantage. We’ll see. The most important thing is he’s gotten his opportunity, and the most important thing for him is to go out there and win it. Sam is incredibly talented.”

We don’t know how talented Noakes is because of the middle-of-the-road opposition he’s been feeding off of since he turned pro in 2019. His two best wins have come against 39-year-old Ryan Walsh and 40-year-old Yvan Mendy. What does it say when these are his best wins on his resume? Why hadn’t Noakes been stepped up before this?

“It wouldn’t surprise me for him to win a world title. I think he’s very capable. He could fight tomorrow. Allan has him in the gym,” said Warren.

Noakes’ best chance of winning is to get to Mason’s vulnerable chin and bang him out early. If it goes past four rounds, Noakes’ chances drop steadily. Taking Mason’s big power shots for five or more rounds would be difficult for anybody, but even more so for a fighter who has been toiling away at the British domestic level his entire pro career.

“The fights on. It’ll either go to purse bids or we do a deal, but Sam has got his chance. He’s a good fighter. A good Sam Noakes is a handful for everybody,” said Warren. “He has a tremendous work rate. He’s all over you, and that’s what he’s got to do in this fight. He’s got to go and be Sam Noakes, and he can win it.”

Abdullah is a big puncher, and it could work against Noakes if he tries to overwhelm him with volume. That’s going to leave him open for Mason’s big shots. Noakes is a good fighter, but can he withstand the power of Mason for 12 rounds? I doubt it.

“A fighter not making weight by that much, it’s something obviously wrong. It’s totally unprofessional,” said Warren about Keyshawn Davis missing weight by 4.3 pounds, causing him to be stripped of his WBO 135-lb title.

Keyshawn mentioned after he missed weight that he’d already planned on moving up to 140 before his canceled fight against Edwin De Los Santos. So, this was going to be his last fight at 135 anyway, and he was going to drop the WBO lightweight belt.

So, when you hear that, it’s apparent that he didn’t care whether he lost the title on the scales. He just wanted to make sure he won. Having a weight advantage against the big puncher De Los Santos would have helped. What Davis didn’t factor in was Edwin’s promoter opting not to go through with the fight.