There were around 30 seconds left of the 10th round when Abdullah Mason really began to step up his pursuit of the stoppage against Sam Noakes in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

But while Mason, who would eventually claim the vacant WBO lightweight title via unanimous decision, had a knockout on his mind, Noakes was having a moment to himself.

“I remember it clear as day,” he tells The Ring.

“He hit me with a body shot so I moved my arm down because I didn’t want to get hit in the body again — but then he just hit me with a left hook to the head instead. I thought, 'Oh that hurt.'

“So I looked down at the floor and I just thought, 'Wow, that looks comfy, maybe I’ll just have a little sit down on there.' It’s funny what goes through your head in there sometimes.

“It was all in slow motion really, everything is happening so fast around you, but I’m there looking at the canvas thinking do I do it? Shall I do it? It looks nice down there. But then I didn’t and I’m glad I didn’t.

“It’s a bit mad what goes through your mind when you think about it. I don’t even remember sitting down in the corner, I don’t remember Al [Smith] speaking to me at all but I do remember thinking, 'This is sore, I might take a little nap.'"

Noakes (17-1, 15 KOs) speaks with the sort of refreshing honesty which has made him one of Britain’s favourite fighters and now, given his valiant effort against the highly touted Mason, earned him a swathe of new fans in the US, too. By now, he can laugh about the whole experience. Although the pain inflicted by his young opponent has all but subsided, the uncomfortable sensation provided by his first loss still rankles.

In the first few days that followed the fight, he did not want to give too much thought to what might be next. He even joked that he might just settle into a life working in a coffee shop instead of handling the pain of punching for pay. Now, with the dust almost settled on his first professional loss, Noakes can start to look towards 2026.

“When I thought about losing before it happened, I felt like it's the end of the world," he said. “It's terrible.

“And even when I'm walking back to the changing room, you can feel it. We've lost now. It's like someone's died or something. Nobody is saying anything but they’re kind of giving you a little look.

“But this is boxing, I'm not a child, I knew the risks but obviously the reward was massive, and we'd give it a good crack. It’s not just that we lost in a close fight, to someone who's going to be an absolutely unbelievable fighter, but someone's got to lose, just unfortunately it was me this time.”

The defeat was also the first time that the wider Noakes family, which includes his fighting brother Sean (11-0, 5 KOs), have had to deal with a professional defeat to one of their boys. And, given Noakes sustained a bad cut in the third round, it was clear he had been in a fight when he left the ring at ANB Arena.

“I don’t think the family enjoyed it too much,” he says. “My nephew, bless him, he’s only 10 and he said ‘I don’t like it.' My niece fell asleep.

“When I got in the ring I knew where my mum and sister were in the crowd so I made sure I nodded over to them to let them know I was alright, my brother Sean is a boxer so he knows the craic.

“But my old man was a little bit choked up when I came out of the hospital because I was all lumped and bumped. It’s a rough old game when you’re on the end of it. They were worried but once I got back from the hospital they all knew I was alright, it wasn’t long before they were laughing at my swollen face and calling me ugly.”

So what does the future hold for Noakes? The Maidstone puncher had famously won his first 13 fights by knockout against a mixed bag of opponents. That progress has slowed as the levels have stepped up, but it is fair to say his stock has never been higher even in defeat.

“Losing doesn’t feel too good now,” he says. “But I’ll have a bit of downtime over Christmas with my family and then get going again in the new year.

“I’ve got a loss now, I’m just a loser, but other than that I still feel alright. I feel more experienced and better about it. I feel hungry to come back and climb back up to the top and become world champion before my career’s up.

“When you’re coming up, when you're an amateur, and you've got that hunger, you want this, you want that money, you want that car, I always remember being like that. Maybe it’s because when you’re amateur you’re in competitive fights all the time.

“I always remember having that edge but because the pro career has been a little bit one-sided at times, you start to forget that feeling. I realised I hadn’t seen that guy for a little while.

“And, although I’m gutted and I lost, it was also nice to know that he’s still in there. It’s not just talking, when the going gets tough I’m still there, ready to fight.”