{"id":753137,"date":"2026-08-29T02:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T02:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/753137\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T02:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T02:44:10","slug":"sam-noakes-eyes-world-title-fight-against-william-zepeda-after-berinchyk-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/753137\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Noakes eyes world title fight against William Zepeda after Berinchyk test"},"content":{"rendered":"

The phrase \u2018styles make fights\u2019 gets bandied around so frequently that most of us are probably sick and tired of hearing it. In the context of a potential clash between Sam Noakes<\/a> and William Zepeda, however, there is surely no better slogan to use.<\/p>\n

Bidding for a career-best victory on Saturday evening, Noakes will face former world champion Denys Berinchyk in the chief support to Moses Itauma vs Filip Hrgovic<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Above all else, though, the 29-year-old is determined to secure another major title shot after losing a fiercely-contested unanimous decision to Abdullah Mason<\/a> in November.<\/p>\n

He is still highly rated by the WBO \u2013 as a result of his tremendous effort against Mason \u2013 but with Noakes boasting a No.4 ranking with the WBC, too, he could soon emerge as a realistic opponent for newly-crowned champion Zepeda.<\/p>\n

Speaking with Boxing News about this possible opportunity, \u2018Midge\u2019 made no attempt to hide his enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

\u201cI tell you what, me and him would be one hell of a fight, wouldn\u2019t it? If it comes up, we\u2019d definitely take that fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

While embracing the thought of a Zepeda fight, Noakes is acutely aware of the mental and physical toll it would take to become world champion.<\/p>\n

That much became apparent during the Mason fight, when, despite producing a career-best performance, the Brit fell agonisingly short of claiming the WBO lightweight strap.<\/p>\n

With his face wearing the wounds of battle, Noakes then made a promise to himself that, next time he is involved in a gruelling 12-rounder, he must be the one that emerges victorious.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was walking through the airport [in Saudi Arabia] and everyone kept looking at me. Then I got on the plane and the woman was like, \u2018What happened to you?\u2019 I told her I didn\u2019t want to talk about it. I looked like I\u2019d got a hiding, but it was obviously a close fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did say to [coach] Al [Smith] afterwards that I\u2019ve got more of them [performances] in me \u2026 but I gotta win next time. Mason would\u2019ve been sore the next day, but at least he\u2019d won the fight, whereas I was having a hard time chewing my food [after having lost].\u201d<\/p>\n

While it was, indeed, a close fight, Noakes has no issue with giving full credit to Mason, who he views as one of the sport\u2019s finest talents.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a bit more durable than I\u2019d expected. I obviously knew he\u2019d be fast and strong for six rounds, but he surprised me with how he held it together down the backstretch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe plan was to keep a high work rate and see if he\u2019d fade down the backstretch. But credit to Abdullah Mason \u2013 the kid can fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFor that fight, I had to be the fittest and strongest I\u2019d ever been \u2013 and I did get to that stage. I just came up short.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given his style, Noakes is most effective when he comes forward and maintains a high output but, in doing so, the Maidstone man must sometimes take one to land one.<\/p>\n

So in order to mitigate the damage he incurs in the ring \u2013 and indeed during sparring \u2013 the top contender chooses to keep his brain active by learning a new language.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re getting hit in the head all the time, you want to try and keep your brain working and functioning properly.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I like to learn new things but don\u2019t ask me to speak Spanish now. Give me another year and I should have more confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Within the next 12 months, Noakes might even speak enough Spanish to converse with Zepeda and demand a WBC title shot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The phrase \u2018styles make fights\u2019 gets bandied around so frequently that most of us are probably sick and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":753138,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[2560,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-753137","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-boxing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753137","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=753137"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753137\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/753138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=753137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=753137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}