Claude Noel (born July 25, 1948 in Roxborough,

Tobago Tobago () is an island and ward within the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trinidad and about off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. It also lies to the southeast of Grenada. The offic ...

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

) is a former Tobagonian professional boxer. During his career, which spanned from 1973 to 1984, Noel held the WBA World Lightweight title and the Commonwealth Lightweight title.

Early life

Born August 22, 1949 in Roxborough, Tobago to Thelma Fraser and Gabriel "Alfred" Noel. In his early teenage life, Noel began selling mangoes and other tropical fruits before branching of to boxing in 1973.

Professional career

Noel began his professional career on November 13, 1973, fighting in Port-of-Spain, he beat Art de Freitas by second round

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving strikin ...

. After a run of four victories Noel successfully challenged for his first title, the Trinidad & Tobago Lightweight title. The fight, scheduled for fifteen rounds, was stopped in the tenth with Noel's opponent, Fitzroy Guisseppi, unable to continue. On June 16, 1979 Noel challenged for a version of the world title for the first time. Prior to this fight Noel had built up a record of nineteen wins and just two losses, both against Lennox Blackmoore via tenth round technical knockout. Noel and his opponent, the

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

Ernesto Espana Ernesto, form of the name Ernest in several Romance languages, may refer to: * ''Ernesto'' (novel) (1953), an unfinished autobiographical novel by Umberto Saba, published posthumously in 1975 ** ''Ernesto'' (film), a 1979 Italian drama loosely ...

, were fighting for the WBA title recently vacated by

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. The fight started badly for Noel as Espana scored a first round knock down. Although he was able to recover, he was knocked down once again in the ninth round and he was unable to beat the referee's count for the third knockdown, which ended the fight in the thirteenth. Two years later on September 12, 1981, Noel once again challenged for the WBA title, this time successfully. The opponent for the fight, which took place in

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, United States, was the Mexican boxer Rodolfo Gonzalez. Noel started the fight well but had to withstand a strong finish by the Mexican. The bout went the distance and the scores were read out as: 145-140, 145-141 and 144-141, all in favour of Noel. Noel's first defence of his title was on December 5, 1981 against the American challenger, and late replacement,

Arturo Frias Arturo Frias (born October 27, 1955) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1975 to 1985. He held the WBA lightweight title from 1981 to 1982. Boxing career Frias began his professional boxing career on February 7, 1975, one ...

. Frias dominated the fight, which took place in

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, before knocking Noel out in the eighth round. Although Noel never fought for a world title again, he was able to win the Commonwealth Lightweight title and defend it twice. Noel fought ten more times after his final world title fight, losing six, most notably to the renowned

Nicaraguan Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the countr ...

Alexis Arguello Alexis may refer to: People Mononym * Alexis (poet) ( – ), a Greek comic poet * Alexis (sculptor), an ancient Greek artist who lived around the 3rd or 4th century BC * Alexis (singer) (born 1968), German pop singer * Alexis (comics) (1946–1977 ...

. Noel's final fight took place on November 2, 1984, he lost the fight, and his Commonwealth title, to Graeme Brooke by a unanimous decision.

Personal life

The

Claude Noel Highway The Claude Noel Highway, sometimes referred to as CNH, is one of the major west–east highways in Trinidad and Tobago, named after Claude Noel, it is the only highway in Tobago. It runs from Canaan to Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refe ...

in Tobago was named for him, in favour of his sporting accomplishment.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Noel, Claude World Boxing Association champions Living people World boxing champions Trinidad and Tobago male boxers 1949 births Lightweight boxers