Boxing Profile: Howard Eastman

Less than two years ago, Howard “The Battersea Bomber” Eastman was preparing for the fight of his life, one that could turn him into the great fighter he always believed he was. An undisputed middleweight championship crown was within his grasp, with only the legend himself, Bernard Hopkins, standing in the way. Now Eastman is fighting another fight of his life, except this time his reward for winning will be a recovery, as after three straight defeats, another loss could end the 35 year olds career, meaning no third time lucky crack at the title.

Born in Guyana, Eastman’s career started off to a blaze, 32 straight wins propelled him to a WBA title shot. 28 of those wins were by knockout and Eastman had beaten noticeable fighters such as Sam Soliman and Robert McCracken and came into the WBA title fight as the European, Commonwealth and British Middleweight Champion.

The WBA title shot itself in 2001 would be Eastman’s first fight out of the British isles, and despite knocking the champion, William Joppy, down in the finals seconds of the fight, Howard lost an agonizingly close majority decision at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.

Eastman, like the champions of the past that he admired, came back to win eight in a row, six by knockout, after the Joppy fight. He had now earned his shot against the undisputed middleweight king, Bernard “The Executioner” Hopkins in February of 2005.

The fight with Hopkins was not a happy one, the champion electing to dance around the ring and make Eastman come to him, refusing to go toe to toe and thereby negating Eastman’s power and youth advantage. The fight did not heat up until round five when both men landed a barrage of punches, which got the crowd on it’s feet.

By the midway stage, it appeared that Hopkins was leading by one or two points. Things never really got better for Eastman and Hopkins won at least four of the next six rounds to claim a unanimous decision and break Eastman’s heart

Knowing that time was running out on his career, the London man then rushed into a fight in July of last year with undefeated middleweight contender and now IBF titleholder, Arthur Abraham. This turned out to be another close fight and another which Eastman lost.

Once more realizing that time was short, Howard knew that he had to bounce back strongly, and no better way to do it than to fight another undefeated middleweight; Edison Miranda. Yet again it ended in heartbreak for Eastman as he was stopped in the seventh round and it appeared his career was all but over in March of this year.

There still may be a light at the end of the tunnel as Eastman will be returning for what in just about everyone’s mind is a last chance saloon fight against another man who is on the verge of being thrown of the boxing scene, Richard “The Secret” Williams. The two are set to clash for the vacant British Middleweight title on December 15 at London’s York Hall.

Defeat here will spell the end for one of these men in the sport but as both Eastman and Williams are 35 years of age, the bout could be a stepping stone to one last chance at genuine glory for the winner.