Report By James Lupton
In the co-main event fighting for the vacant WBO International lightweight championship Sam Noakes faced Olympic Silver medalist Denys Berinchyk. ‘Midge’ Noakes will be looking to get himself back into world title contention with a victory after a closely fought defeat against Abdullah Mason last year. His Ukrainian opponent entered the ring coming off of the back of his first professional defeat to Keyshawn Davis where he was stopped in round four losing his world title. Both men have been surrounded by pound-for-pound greatness as Denys trained alongside Oleksandr Usyk and Noakes shared rounds with Shakur Stevenson and both will hope those experiences will give them an edge over each other.
It’s orthodox versus southpaw. The elusive Ukrainian was on his toes, in and out, as his amateur style seemingly has never left him. But, Noakes was evidently the man who carried the power in that ring tonight. The man from Kent stalked his prey waiting for the southpaw to show a weakness. Patiently waiting as the tiring Berinchyk continued to move his way around the squared circle. At the midway point Noakes is calm, composed and in control.
As the second half of the fight began Noakes started to find his way through the defence of Berinchyk as the veteran continued to slow as the fight progressed. Midge seemed to hurt the Ukrainian in both rounds eight and nine as he extended his dominance in the fight.
Into the 10th and final round the Briton was the fresher man, conducting a victory over a world class operator in a very mature and professional performance. We’ve grown used to seeing Noakes headhunting like a shark when he smells blood but tonight we saw a very disciplined display from the Maidstone man.
We went to the judges’ scorecards after ten rounds of boxing. A unanimous decision followed; 100-90, 99-91 & 98-92 all in favour of Sam Noakes. Wider than expected and somewhat harsh on Denys Berinchyk but gracious in defeat the 38-year-old can hold his head high.
