The Quiet Masterclass On A Loud Night
Right then. While everyone was busy losing their minds over what Hrgovic did to Itauma, the co-main at the O2 quietly delivered one of the most important British results of the weekend. Sam Noakes beat Denys Berinchyk over ten hard rounds, swept the cards with all three judges, and picked up the vacant WBO International lightweight title while he was at it.
Beating a former WBO lightweight champion — even a 38-year-old version — is a proper result. Berinchyk is awkward, durable and full of veteran nonsense, and plenty of good fighters have looked ordinary trying to solve him. Noakes didn't look ordinary. He looked like a man on a mission.
How Noakes Won It
Workrate, pressure, and a body attack that aged Berinchyk a year a round. Make no mistake, this was a mature performance — the Maidstone man didn't chase the highlight reel knockout that used to define him. He broke Berinchyk down methodically, took rounds on volume, and when the veteran tried his tricks — the switching, the showboating, the sudden counters — Noakes just kept stacking punches. That's what levels looks like when the levels are close: not a knockout, a grinding.
The Mason Question
The defeat to Abdullah Mason earlier this year could have sent Noakes's career sideways. Instead he's answered it the only way that counts — by beating the best available name and making the division look at him again. Mason has moved on to bigger belts, but the rematch is sat there like an unpaid debt, and lightweight is a division that loves a redemption story.
Luke's Final Word
Let's not beat around the bush: Sam Noakes is back in the world title race at 135, and the WBO International belt is the receipt. One more win over a top-ten name and he's fighting for a world title in 2027 — that's my prediction and I'll stand on it. The engine has always been brilliant, the power is real, and now there's patience to go with it. Class. Keep an eye on our fight cards page for where he lands next.