Sam Noakes feels a world title shot is within reach after retaining his European lightweight crown.

Maidstone boxer Noakes made a successful first defence of his EBU belt at York Hall on Friday night.

He put in a dominant display against former champion Gianluca Ceglia, who retired on his stool at the end of the eighth round.

The stoppage extended Noakes’ winning record to 15-0 and talk of fighting for a world title next year is gathering momentum.

“The possibility of me fighting for a world title is massive,” said Noakes, 27.

“It’s very real. When you first start, it’s like a dream and now it’s closer to being reality.

“There’s no rush. The thing is, as long as you keep winning and doing it in good fashion, it’s inevitable it’s going to happen anyway.”

Manager Francis Warren heaped praise on Noakes, who also holds British, Commonwealth and WBO International titles.

He said a fight against WBO world champion Denys Berinchyk “seems a natural route to take, as and when it presents itself”.

Warren added his man was “going places” and urged everyone to “get on board and enjoy the Sam Noakes ride”.

Noakes, who was sat next to Warren at ringside at the time, said: “You don’t take a lot of it in because after a fight your mind’s going at 100mph but it is nice to hear other people say it especially when they’ve been around boxing for so long.

“It’s good. It shows you’re going in the right direction.”

Noakes wasn’t completely satisfied with his display against veteran Ceglia but was still too strong for his Italian opponent.

He’d won every round before the fight was called off.

“I don’t think it was my best performance,” said Noakes, who travelled to Dubai the following day.

“I could see in his face he wasn’t happy in there but he was tougher than I thought he’d be.

“Everyone said it was still dominant but you have these little dips.

“Sometimes you need a bad performance to spur on a good one.

“I still won but coming away from that we know what things we’ve got to do differently, so it’s good.

“I’ve got to try and keep that pace up rather than breezing through just because you know you can.

“I need to stay busy in there and from my point of view I need to lay off eating loads of chocolate and making that weight cut worse than it needs to be.

“I’m sure Al (Smith, trainer) has got a long list ready for me when I get back.”

Noakes expects to fight again in December before gearing up for what could be a big 2025 for the former Westree amateur.