Abdullah Mason will not only have to overcome a size disadvantage when he fights Sam Noakes on Saturday evening, he will have to conquer a lightweight blessed with “abnormal” athletic abilities, according to Noakes’ trainer Alan Smith.
At the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on the undercard of David Benavidez-Anthony Yarde, Mason and Noakes will contest the vacant WBO lightweight title and do so in the knowledge that the winner’s career will be transformed.
Aged 28 England’s undefeated Noakes – a giant by the standards of those competing at lightweight – is at his physical peak and seeking to impose himself on his 21-year-old opponent, aware that Mason possesses the potential to eventually prove himself their division’s best.
“Abnormal” could one day become an accurate description of Mason’s natural talents, but in 2025 Smith – conviction in his leading fighter total – believes that the athleticism that could have made Noakes a success beyond boxing will test Mason in a way that he previously hasn’t been tested, and ultimately secure Noakes’ path to success.
“They all talk about him – Carl Frampton – and go ‘It’s impossible for a man that size to lift those type of weights’,” the respected Smith told BoxingScene. “His deadlifts and his power lifts. ‘That’s just abnormal.’ He breaks figures. He’s a little bit stiff when you watch him box but he’s a lot better than you think he is.
“When he does 400m he breaks 57 seconds; if he does the marathon he’s three hours. He runs incredibly fast. We go to a professional running track where some of the Olympians train and some of the local professionals run [Smith’s gym is in Bromley, London], and he’s been put into races ‘cause they think he’s that good. He doesn’t look natural when he runs but he comes fourth in a race of 16 professionals when he’s had one day’s notice. He goes and plays padel and he’s brilliant at padel – he’s pretty good at near enough whatever he does.
“Sometimes an imperfection makes you the strongest person. Sam’s tough, rugged style – that imperfection in his style – gives him that strength. Abdullah Mason is a technically beautiful boxer and clever. He looks like he could have rolled out anywhere in ‘Sugar’ Ray Leonard’s type of style or Adam Booth’s type of gym – [but] we’re so, so confident. He’ll have to be something seriously special to be able to beat Sam.
“The problem with anything in life is anything has to look perfect for it to be acceptable, whether it be a certain car or a model that’s doing anything. Sometimes you look at what’s beautiful as the correct way. I really like the style of the 1950s or 60s fighters like Rocky Graziano and Jake La Motta, and Aaron Pryor in the 80s. If [Noakes had] been in that era he’d have fitted in incredibly.
“He walks around fairly heavy; boxes on the night very, very big. Sometimes that can be a strength or a weakness; so he knows he has to be at a certain limit; not too high, not too low. He gets in that ring at a seriously strong, healthy weight that he spars best at. He’s not the biggest kid, but he’s a big, big lightweight in stature; width; depth. Height, maybe not so much, but he uses his height to his advantage.”
Smith, regardless, recognises Mason’s considerable potential. If aged 21 he can become the first to defeat the dangerous Noakes there will be little to stop him becoming the world’s leading lightweight; even if he loses he can still one day realise that potential; it is only for Mason, and not Noakes, that there is a chance of Saturday’s fight being regarded as too soon.
“You wouldn’t want to box him at 23, 24, whether he moves up through the weights,” Smith said. “Timing’s everything. For Sam it’s the perfect time – six years into his career, and a year and a bit of that was Covid, so he’s five years in, and when you look at their records of 36 fights and 32 knockouts between ‘em, Sam’s lost one round by one judge in 17 fights.
“Timing is everything, and sometimes I think with American fighters – I’m a big fan of their boxing – they look across the pond and think ‘That’s just another UK fighter; he’s slow’. We’ve had some fantastic fighters over the years but sometimes they overlook us, and that could be a little bit of a downfall for them.
“[Mason is] very good at working in close for an extremely long fighter, and his hand speed is absolutely phenomenal. That’s what really, really impresses me.
“He’s very brave. I really like him as a fighter. He’s got good manners; he’s got a good family around him. But you always question at a young age, at 21 years old, is it too soon? You can see with Frank [Warren] and Moses [Itauma] – they’re probably exactly the same. ‘Maybe one more fight.’ Moses is probably the most precocious talent we’ve had at heavyweight for a long, long time. At 21 I can imagine that they would have considered that [for Mason], and I’d have been in exactly the same position. ‘Is he too young?’ But the prize is the WBO title in an era when people are making extremely good money.
“[Mason also] gets involved [in a physical fight]. Which is great for me.
“I’m extremely, extremely, extremely confident. We definitely, definitely don’t think we’re going there to lose. As good as that kid is, he’s going to have to be something seriously special to beat Sam.
“I can’t see a loss. I genuinely mean that. But this is boxing at the highest level; you’re one punch away from winning, and one punch away from losing.”
Victory for Noakes would perhaps also prove the crowning moment of Smith’s career as a stalwart of British boxing. His preference for privacy means that he refuses to discuss on record the successful business interests that mean that he is far from reliant on the sport to earn a living; he very nearly was recruited to be Moses Itauma’s long-term trainer; he speaks fondly of the abilities of his former fighters Danny Hunt and Tommy Saunders but between them led the graceful Sam Webb to the British junior-middleweight title; he considers Noakes – on reflection inevitably – the psychologically strongest of them all.
“Ability-wise, I’ve had some incredible kids,” he said. “Danny Hunt was absolutely outstanding but he had really bad skin [his two defeats came via cuts], and I had Tommy Saunders, Billy Joe’s brother, 5-0 and the best kid you’ve ever seen, but he had a little bit of a family tragedy.
“[Noakes] is not the most gifted, but overall he’s the most single-minded, confident person without arrogance. He’s so not cocky, and he’s probably gone the furthest of the boys; that one step further, and that’s down to management [from Francis Warren] as well. He deserves his world-title shot. Henry Turner’s absolutely outstanding; Skye Nicolson; Sam Webb was a good kid, a fantastic fighter. But [Noakes’] overall mindset is better than anyone I’ve trained. He’s confident without being arrogant, and he’s very comfortable in his own skin, which is fantastic. He plays everything down – he’s this funny guy and it don’t really bother him. But as soon as he’s in that ring, Adam Booth calls him a ‘thug’.
“We’re quite a small team – myself; Eddie Lam – we’re quite a small team based on a farm; very ordinary people; it’ll be a massive achievement having someone from the start to the very end, and to do it with someone who’s been very loyal it’ll mean a lot. My wife [Sara] has been super supportive. I go to work, I run a company, and then I come home and I go to the gym. Eddie’s wife’s the same – he’s had to travel everywhere with Skye. So it’ll mean a hell of a lot to the people who’ve helped us get to this part. It’ll be nice to have had Sam from the beginning – that means a lot more to me.
“We’ve probably been in the gym much longer than [16 weeks]. We’ve just been working on different things; staying in the gym; track; strength; sparred way out, and then took some time off. The last week or so we’ve just been practicing on what we need to practice on. You can always decrease [the intensity of] a camp; you just can’t increase if you’re not fit, so it’s easier to take your foot off the gas than put your foot on.
“[Making sure Noakes doesn’t overtrain over 16 weeks is] an experienced coach, because it’s nothing to do with boxing. It’s mental; physical. We got him in the gym early; we didn’t go mad; we worked on a few things; we sparred miles out, and three or four weeks ago we took a week off of sparring. We were where we needed to be. I was very lucky to have people around me when I was a younger trainer – like Jimmy Tibbs and Dean Powell.
“James Cook worked my corner for two or three years. Jimmy Tibbs would go ‘When a kid’s razor sharp give him a day off’. Over the years you get to know that about someone – I can tell when Sam walks in when he’s tired. We’ve had fun – he’s had music on, singing and dancing, and you know when someone’s buzzing. He’s clever enough himself to know when he needs a rest.
“Win, lose or draw – and we will win – it’s an achievement for a team to not be handed a world title but to work hard for it. Whether you win a southern area or a world title, it’s a serious achievement.
“I said to Sam ‘Try and get to 10-0; try and get to the Commonwealth title; try and get to the British title’, and he’s passed all of them things. We’ll be a little bit nervous, but we can enjoy that immensely – we’re very confident.
“It’s not like going into a fight thinking ‘There’s no way I’m going to win this’ – and normally you know when you ain’t gonna win.”
