Mason says he “took it easy” before the Sam Noakes test

Abdullah Mason says fans are going to see an improved version of him against Sam Noakes in their fight for the vacant WBO lightweight title on November 22 in Riyadh.

Complacency may cost him

Mason (19-0, 17 points) believes he needs to put more effort into this fight to win because Noakes (17-0, points) is “durable” rival. He states that he didn’t show what he was capable of in his four year professional career because he didn’t have to.

Mason, 21, cannot afford to sit back and expect to beat Noakes using only minimal effort, as he has seemingly done in his 19-fight professional career. The two consequences that Abdullah suffered in the first against Yohanan Vasquez on November 8, 2024, should have been enough to show him that he could not afford to be a horseman.

Mason-Noakes will fight on the undercard of David Benavidez against Anthony Yarde at the ANB Arena in Riyadh. The event is priced at $59.99 in the US and £24.99 in the UK.

Undercard

• Abdullah Mason vs. Sam Noakes
• Jesse Rodriguez vs. Fernando Daniel Martinez
• Brian Norman Jr. vs. Devin Haney
• Artur Beterbiev vs. Dion Nicholson

Fans split on Mason’s ceiling

Noakes is a big puncher, and may be too much for Abdullah. Some fans are already saying out loud that Mason has a glass chin and cannot withstand the power of even low level fighters. If this theory is true, it will end badly for the top-ranked Mason.

Admits he was on cruise control

“Everyone will see that I took it easy. (Sam) Noakes is a tough, tough opponent, and I’m going to have to put a little more on him than I did everything else,” Abdullah Mason said. Ring magazine For his fight against Sam Noakes on November 22nd.

It sounds like Mason is setting himself up to look bad with his comments. You could see that he put the most effort into his fights, and still sometimes struggled with the lower-ranked fighters that the upper-ranking matched him against.

“Everybody’s going to see, ‘Oh, he took it a step further than he took it,'” Mason said. “I might have to take out some things that I don’t have for the rest because he’s a tough opponent. It’s a fight where he’s going to test something that’s never been tested before.”

Written by Ken Woods, a ringside boxing analyst who has been covering world championship fights since 2018.