Ten days have passed since Sam Noakes' brave but unsuccessful bid to beat Abdullah Mason for the WBO lightweight title.

There has been enough time for Noakes' bumps and bruises to ease but not enough for the disappointment of losing his first world title challenge to dissipate.

The vacant title fight opened up the star-studded Ring IV card in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Given that Mason (20-0, 17 KOs) and Noakes (17-1, 15 KOs) were relatively unknown on the world stage, it would have been easy for the fight to be overshadowed by the big names and high-profile fights following it, but the unbeaten lightweights stole the show.

Both fighters pushed each other to the very limit but Mason's cleaner work earned him a hard-fought unanimous decision.

During an appearance on talkSPORT, the 28-year-old from Maidstone, Kent revealed that his performance has earned him plenty of positive feedback.

"I haven't seen one bad comment about the fight," Noakes said.

"Normally, you always see a little bit of negativity but even all the American fanbase, everyone's just saying what a tough man, iron sharpens iron and that.

"I was sore after, boys. I remember that. It's alright now - can laugh and joke about it - but I remember Sunday I was thinking, 'Oh mate, I might have to get a job in a coffee shop. This boxing game is rough.'"

Noakes and Mason gained the admiration of the boxing public but also earned each other's respect over the course of 12 violent rounds. Both entered with questions hanging over their heads but, by the end of the night, both had proven themselves to be world-level operators.

"I left it all in there and I think credit to Abdullah Mason. He can seriously fight because we thought down the stretch he might fade a little bit," he continued.

"Obviously, he'd been tagged and hurt in previous fights but he was still there. I remember Al [Smith, Noakes' trainer] before round 12, he's like, 'You've got to knock him out." I said, "I've been trying, Al. I've been trying."

Noakes climbed the WBO rankings by fighting five times between December 2023 and December 2024. In that time, he stormed to the British and European lightweight titles, racking up invaluable rounds against the experienced Yvan Mendy and Ryan Walsh.

The fight with Mason was just his second of this year.

Given that there was a world title on the line, Noakes was content to bide his time and wait but now that he has established his name, he will be keen to capitalise on the momentum his performance in Saudi Arabia generated and get back to business.

When asked about what he wants next, he said: "I couldn't tell you any names but am definitely up for big fights.

"I don't want to go back down the British level. Hopefully then maybe try and get another world title in a different sanctioning body, then maybe rematch Mason for a little unification. That would be ideal wouldn't it?"