Sam Noakes made a successful first defence of his European lightweight title on Friday night.

Noakes won by TKO after Italian opponent Gianluca Ceglia retired on his stool at the end of the eighth round.

The Maidstone boxer, 27, extended his perfect record to 15-0 in taking another step towards a world title shot.

He also became just the second man to stop the durable Ceglia, himself a former European champion.

“His experience showed and it was a tougher fight than I thought it would be,” Noakes told TNT Sports.

“I knew he’d done a few rounds before but as Al (trainer Al Smith) was saying in the corner, even when I was throwing nothingy jabs he didn’t really have an answer, and when I thought, ‘I’ll nick a breather here’ then he sort of captialised on it.

“That’s why later on in the rounds I kept throwing out nothingy shots.

“They weren’t really hurting him, he was quite tough, wasn’t he, but it was a good fight, a good learning fight.

“That’s what you need because everyone’s talking about all these big boys and these big fights but I’m still only 15-0 so I’ve still got a lot to learn, I’m not at my best yet and I think fights like this are really going to bring me on.”

Noakes, who also holds British, Commonwealth and WBO International titles, is tipped to challenge for a world title.

Manager Francis Warren said WBO world champion Denys Berinchyk “seems a natural route to take, as and when it presents itself”.

“But we’re not calling people out,” he added.

“We’ll do our own thing because this young man is going places and we’ve got no rush.

“We’ll take our time and make sure everyone gets on board and enjoys the ride because he’s exciting, quite good-looking, he’s a marketing dream, he enjoys his boxing, he’s got a fantastic team around him, a brilliant family support and he’s just a joy to be around.

“And to top it all, he bangs people out for fun, so let’s all get on board and enjoy the Sam Noakes ride.”