Sam and Sean Noakes are lifting each other to new heights

By Matt Bozeat

THERE are differing accounts of why the Noakes brothers were banned from sparring each other.

“We haven’t sparred each other for years,” said Sean, the elder brother by two years at 29.

“I was always moaning about him being dirty. He was always pushing and pulling.”

That’s not how Sam remembers it.

“You’ve seen how I fight, I’m just rough and he didn’t like it,” he said.

“He hit me after the bell a few times. I’ve got the videos. There was one time I had my hands down and he hit me with a left hook – and then he moans about me.”

Sean protests.

“I’ve got it on video as well,” he said, “and I was halfway through the punch when the bell rang.”

Sam explained: “We are brothers and best mates.

“I was best man at his wedding and we never really fought growing up, but if we go down to the beach and throw stones it’s always: ‘I’m better at skimming stones than you.’

“That’s the way we are.”

Sean revealed one of his motivations ahead of his clash with Inder Bassi for the vacant English welterweight championship last month was to “start catching that little git up.”

Sam is further along in his career having won British, Commonwealth and European lightweight honours.

He makes his first defence of the latter belt against Gianluca Ceglia at the York Hall on Friday, September 6.

That was where he won the vacant belt in April, dominating French veteran Yvan Mendy, who became the first to last the distance with the Maidstone mauler. Noakes had stopped his first 13 opponents.

“It was good to get the rounds in,” said Noakes, who’s been with trainer Alan Smith and manager Francis Warren since turning pro in 2019 after winning the Elite championship with Westree ABC. “I showed I’m not a one-trick pony.

[Denys] Berinchyk took a few rounds off him [three, four and four] and he’s a world champion now, so I made a statement.”

Mendy was always likely to give Noakes rounds given he had never been stopped in 56 previous fights. “I hit him with everything I could and it took it out of me,” said Noakes.

“I was lying in the changing room afterwards knackered and he came in looking like he hadn’t even had a fight! He’s a machine.

“I got him a couple of times, but it was right at the end of the round.

“I was a bit gutted the knockout streak ended, but we can always start a new one!” Which could spell trouble for Ceglia. The 34-year-old Italian has lost to Mendy in a 21-4-1 career and has a points win over Vincenzo Finiello, subsequently overpowered in four by Noakes.

“He looks like a come forward fighter,” said Noakes. “I know people can change, but if he’s 26 fights into his career and he’s still coming forward, that’s how he fights.”

That is also how Sam fights. Asked to compare himself with Sam, Sean said: “I’m not as mad as him!

“I’m completely different. Sam is an out-and-out brawler and I’m a box-puncher.”

Sam said: “We are different characters and it shows when we box. He’s more patient. I’m not patient.

“I always go on there looking for an early night. With me, everything is hard.

“I’m more aggressive than Sean, but he has the better knockouts. He goes for the one shot and I don’t leave them alone.”

Pick of Sean’s knockout punches is surely the right that put Colombian Santiago Garces down for a couple of minutes at Wembley Arena last January.

He also unravelled Robin Zamora with a perfectly-timed right in only 42 seconds at the York Hall.

Sam said: “I’m strong, I’m dominant. You’re aware I’m in there. I spar bigger lads and when we are grappling there’s not a lot in it. I’ve been told I have the strength of a middleweight.”

He started lifting weights in his teens.

“The school I went to gave me and my mate a gym membership when I was in Year 10, so about 14 or 15,” he said.

“It was part of a scheme. That’s when I started lifting weights. [Friend] Josh was the size I am now back then. He was around 70 kilos and I tried to keep up with him. We would do 45kgs curls. I wanted to get big, muscly and strong.”

His current personal bests include a 125kgs bench press, a 155kgs squat and 200kgs dead lift.

“I haven’t got long levers [arms] so I haven’t got as far to push,” he said.

Boxing was the idea of their mother, Sharon.

“I was overweight and shy and mum sent me to the gym,” said Sean.

“About a year later mum sent Sam as well. He was a bit naughty and playful. Mum saw how boxing sorted me out.”

Sam didn’t think boxing was for him – until he lost his debut. “I couldn’t be bothered with it,” he said, “but when I lost my first fight it was a horrible, horrible feeling.

“I remember the Master of Ceremonies asking for a round of applause for the loser and I just wanted to run out of the ring. I felt horrible. After that, I took it more seriously. I decided I didn’t like losing. I don’t get scared by who I’m fighting. It’s losing that scares me.”

He only lost five of his next 52 amateur bouts and it was his success that got Sean back into boxing.

“I had a break from boxing when I was 16,17,” said Sean. “I went out partying, I went out and acted silly with my mates. Watching Sam win titles made me want to get back into it.”

Sean turned over in 2022 with trainer Micky Burke at a time when his younger brother was building a reputation as a 135lbs wrecking machine.

Looking back on his pro apprenticeship, Sam said: “I cut Chris Adaway, broke Des Newton’s eye socket and broke Naeem Ali’s nose. They are all seasoned journeymen. They get paid to take punches and give people rounds.”

Queensberry started to match Noakes more competitively and he kept getting stoppages – until he ran into Mendy.

Sean has been at ringside for every one of his brother’s fights and Sam was his loudest supporter when he met Bassi for the St. George’s belt on the Derek Chisora-Joe Joyce undercard at the O2 Arena last month.

“I could hear some of what Sam was shouting,” Sean said, “but I was focused on what was in front of me.”

Sam proved to be a useful ally in the build=up to Sean’s first title fight.

“I have sparred Inder and knew he was a tough, credible opponent,” said Sam. “Having that first title shows you are heading in the right direction.”

Sean wasn’t entirely happy with his eighth straight win (four early).

“I was so pumped up for that,” he said, “and I was a bit over eager. I might have got the stoppage if I had relaxed. He was moving backwards, making it messy.”

Sean, who is married to Anna and has a four-year-old son Hugo, is looking to make a title defence by the end of the year, while Sam hopes for a world title shot in 2025.

The big domestic fight for Noakes is against Mark Chamberlain, the Portsmouth southpaw who’s won all 16 (12 early) and is in Turki Alalshikh’s good books.

Next for Chamberlain is a fight with Josh Padley at Wembley Stadium on Saturday, September 21. “He’s fallen on his feet with Turki Alalshikh,” said Noakes.

“Fair play to him. He’s a good fighter. 

“There’s people doing better than me and people doing worse than me. That’s the way it is. I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing.

“He’s a good fighter with a good back hand, but when you take away that back hand, I don’t think there’s a lot there.

“He had a tough fight with [Artjom] Ramlavs [a 10th-round stoppage last November] and I’m like Ramlavs times 10. I think he maybe likes it when it’s going his way and he won’t get it all his own way with me.”

Sean Noakes