WBA LW champion and three time Commonwealth champion. https://newsday.co.tt/2023/05/24/boxing-fraternity-tobago-mourn-claude-noel/
I remember when Sean O'Grady vacated his title and Claude Noel upset Gonzalez. Seemed like a really big deal. In the States, we didn't get all those Commonwealth fights. So I only saw Noel a few times, against Gonzalez, Frias and later Arguello. I had to go back and look up how long Noel actually had a belt. It was only three months before he got upset himself by Art Frias. So why, 42 years later, do I remember a guy who won a vacant lightweight strap and only held it for three months, but I couldn't put a name to a face of half the guys with belts in the lower weights today if you showed me their photos? Most boxers in the lower divisions seem so nondescript today. I don't know why. Maybe because there are too divisions with too many champs, so when they win and lose they all just blend together into a forgettable mix. But Claude Noel stuck. R.I.P.
Claude Noel, almost certainly the greatest fighter ever to hail from Trinidad and Tobago, was a true world traveler — a ‘have gloves, will travel’ type guy who fought all over the world … and often against world-class opposition. He fought in his native land, the Guadalupe Islands, the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico, Australia and Canada. His first title fight, he came up short against Ernesto Espana, but as noted in other posts he got his second chance when Sean O’Grady was stripped by the WBA and made the most of it to beat (I’d say upset) Rodolfo Gonzalez. He lost it in his first defense, but he bounced back from that to win the Commonwealth title again and defend it a few times. In his career he faced the likes of Alexis Arguello, Howard Davis Jr, Arturo Frias, Johnny Summerhays, Rene Arredondo, Espana and Gonzalez … a bit of a who’s who at 135 from around the world. Looking at who and where he fought, seems safe to say he never turned down a fight. His sporting achievements are recognized on his native island with a highway that was named after him. Noel is a name you knew if you were paying attention to boxing during his time, even if most of his fights weren’t televised in the U.S. (or probably elsewhere), a player on the world scene. Boxing is richer for his presence. RIP champ.
