In his first time fighting past six rounds, young Abdullah Mason showed an entertaining mix of skill and dig-down to grind out a unanimous decision against England’s Sam Noakes over twelve brutal rounds by scores of 115-113 (twice) and 117-111 to become the youngest active champion in boxing. ITRBoxing scored the fight for Mason 116-112. 

Mason, perhaps fueled by emotion or adrenaline (or both) was more than happy to engage Noakes in the slugfest he desired early on, winning most of the rounds but finding himself in a very physical fight, just the kind that could give Noakes a chance. He seemed to collect himself in the sixth, only to have Noakes rebound in kind with a strong display in the 7th, tracking Mason down and forcing Mason to fight. But in rounds 8-10, Mason found his stride, boxing from the outside behind a jab and using his angles on the inside to create shots Noakes couldn’t see coming, nearly stopping him multiple times during this stretch. Once again though, Noakes would rebound and the two would battle it out down the stretch. Mason was the clear winner. 

It was a very impressive display for the 21 year old Mason (20-0, 17 ko), who despite getting hit maybe a little more than he should have kept his composure in the line of fire against a real guy to become the WBO lightweight champion. The craziest part is, he is still very much a work in progress with nothing but upside, but he won’t want to dog out every fight the way he did in this one. He is no longer a prospect, but a young champion in position to fight the best the lightweight division has to offer.