Abdullah Mason was always seen as a surefire future world champion.

The accomplishment, however, came much sooner than expected.

On Saturday night, Mason was crowned as the WBO lightweight champion after he dug deep and outlasted Sam Noakes in a firefight as part of “The Ring IV: Night of the Champions” card in Saudi Arabia.

With the accolade, Mason (20-0, 17 KOs), who turned pro just four years ago, became the youngest active male champion in boxing at 21.

“I'm excited to be boxing's youngest and newest world champion. I'm soaking it all in,” Mason said after the fight. “We got the job done. I feel like I fought his fight. He was definitely pretty sturdy. Had I dialed in on my corner, that would have made it that much easier. I stepped on the jab and started moving a little.

"I still fought his fight, and it went all 12. I wouldn't say he was tougher than I expected. I fought his fight, and that's what made it what it was.”

Mason proved he was more than ready for the occasion, fighting past the sixth round for the first time in his career against his toughest opponent to date.

Mason, from Cleveland, Ohio, outmuscled Noakes and outlanded his British counterpart 214-152 and was awarded scores of 115-113 twice and 117-111.

“He was pretty sturdy. Everything that I landed, he was still there, waiting on me. I had to stay locked in on all 12 rounds,” said Mason. “I wasn't shocked [with his power and pop]. He was definitely durable. We knew he was durable and was sitting there with some stuff.

“I came here knowing what we were going to do. If somebody comes to fight, I come to fight … That's probably as hard that it gets, fighting somebody else's fight."

Mason was allowed to fight for the vacant 135-pound title because Keyshawn Davis lost the belt on the scale in July when he was overweight for a fight against Edwin De Los Santos that never happened.

Mason is suddenly a prospect-turned-power player that the rest of the division can't avoid. The other lightweight champions include Shakur Stevenson (WBC; ranked No. 1 by The Ring), Gervonta Davis (WBA; ranked No. 2 by The Ring) and Raymond Muratalla (IBF; ranked No. 3 by The Ring).

The Ring title is vacant.

“Boxing will dictate who comes next. We came here and got the job done. We'll go back to the drawing board and come back soon,” said Mason. “Whatever they have coming, I am going to be prepared for it … I am excited for what we have coming next. We're here.”