Maidstone boxer Sean Noakes tells how he beat Lukasz Barabasz with a broken thumb

Boxer Sean Noakes negotiated the last four rounds with a broken thumb to extend his winning record at Wembley Arena.

The Maidstone welterweight moved on to 6-0 with a 59-54 points victory over Lukasz Barabasz on Saturday.

Noakes, having put Barabasz down in the opening round, was on top in the second when he felt his thumb go.

Having informed trainer Mick Burke, Noakes soldiered on against his heavier opponent to take a six-round points win.

“I think he was off-balance in the first round when I dropped him,” said Noakes, 28.

“Going on from that, I was warming into the fight nicely.

“My punches started flowing, I had him hurt a few times and started putting things together.

“But, at the end of the second, I threw a straight backhand and my thumb hit the top of his head and it snapped.

“I felt it go straight away and went back to the corner and told Mick my thumb’s just broke.

“He was like, ‘You’ve got to bite down now then, boy’.

“When times get tough, I can just get through it, which I thought was a good thing to take away from this fight.

“It wasn’t my best performance but I’ve shown something you can’t really teach and that’s bottle, so I’m happy with that.

“I still think I could have got him out of there but it was hard fighting the weight above - I definitely felt the difference.

“He was a lot bigger than me but my power carried and I had him hurt a few times. He was just very tough and very resilient.”

Younger brother Sam Noakes had been due to defend his WBC International Silver lightweight title but opponent Carlos Perez pulled out.

Perez’s withdrawal denied the Noakes brothers a chance to fight on the same show for the first time in more than 10 years.

“I’m kind of gutted my brother didn’t get to fight on the