Howard Eastman
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Howard Eastman | |
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Born | Howard Anthony Eastman 8 December 1970 |
Nationality |
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Other names | The Battersea Bomber |
Statistics | |
Weight(s) | Middleweight |
Height | 5 ft 11 in (180 cm) |
Reach | 74 in (188 cm) |
Stance | Orthodox |
Boxing record | |
Total fights | 62 |
Wins | 49 |
Wins by KO | 38 |
Losses | 13 |
Howard Anthony Eastman (born 8 December 1970) is a Guyanese-British former professional boxer who competed from 1994 to 2014. He challenged twice for middleweight world championships; the vacant WBA title in 2001; and the undisputed title against Bernard Hopkins in 2005. At regional level, he held the British, Commonwealth and EBU European middleweight titles twice each between 1998 and 2007.
Early years
[edit]Having spent some time homeless, Eastman later served in the Gulf War in the Royal Fusiliers. He turned professional in March 1994 with a first-round knockout of John Rice. He garnered a reputation as a heavy puncher in the gyms of the UK, where he regularly sparred with Super Middleweights, such as Chris Eubank. [citation needed] His career progressed slowly and at a low profile for many years as fellow British boxers were reluctant to face him. He accumulated an 18-0 (16 knockouts) record before challenging Steve "The Viking" Foster in November 1998 for the British Middleweight title, which he won via 7th-round knockout. In September 2000 he won the Commonwealth Middleweight title by outpointing Australian-based Egyptian (and future #1 contender) Sam Soliman, and finally began receiving wider coverage. [citation needed]
World title challenger
[edit]In April 2001, having put together a 31-0 (28 knockouts) record, he got a high-profile fight defending his British and Commonwealth titles and challenging for the vacant European title against Robert McCracken, who had unsuccessfully challenged Keith Holmes for the WBC world title the previous year.
Eastman dominated the fight and dropped McCracken, stopping him in the 10th round.[1]
Following this match, U.S. promoter Don King signed him up and in November 2001 he fought two-time champ William Joppy for the vacant WBA world title on a Lennox Lewis undercard in Las Vegas. Eastman narrowly lost a controversial majority decision despite knocking Joppy down in the final seconds of the twelfth round. After this fight Eastman sat out a year in Guyana and let his contract with King expire.
Eastman resurfaced in late 2002, under the Hennessy Sports promotional outfit, and trained by former opponent McCracken. Eastman scored two knockouts, over Chardan Ansoula and Hussain Osman, respectively. He regained his European title in January 2003 against the French man Christophe Tendil, whom he stopped in five rounds with a broken jaw,[2] and regained his British and Commonwealth titles by knocking out Scott Dann in three rounds. He defended the European title twice more, stopping ex-world champion Hacine Cherifi in eight rounds in July 2003 and outpointing Sergey Tatevoysan in January 2004.
Now with a 40-1 record and highly ranked by all sanctioning bodies, Eastman finally got the forty-year-old undisputed Middleweight king Bernard Hopkins into the ring to defend his titles, in February 2005 in Los Angeles. Eastman was outsmarted and widely outpointed by Hopkins (110-119, 111-117, 112-116) who was making his historic 20th defence. Post-fight there was initial talk of a rematch, however as the scores suggest the contest for not close enough for this to materialize.[3]
After the world title fights
[edit]Eastman travelled to Germany in July 2005 to fight a WBA eliminator against hard hitting Armenian Arthur Abraham, Eastman lost the fight on points however claimed he had been robbed of the decision.[4] Abraham went on to win the vacant IBF world title after the unified middleweight title was fractured after Hopkins lost to Jermain Taylor.
In March 2006, Eastman traveled to the U.S. and took on another risky eliminator, this time for the IBF title. He was stopped on his feet by the undefeated Colombian-Puerto Rican Edison Miranda. Eastman protested that he should have been allowed to continue since he had not been down in the fight.[5]
Reclaiming his belts
[edit]On 15 December 2006, he regained his British Middleweight title by knocking out Richard Williams in the 12th and final round in London, England. Eastman was well ahead on all scorecards by the time the match ended.
In April 2007, Eastman added the Commonwealth belt to the British title with a 12-round points decision over the Kenyan Evans Ashira in Dudley. Eastman prevailed 116-113, 116-112, 116-113.
In September 2007, Eastmans revival was ended. When defending his British title against domestic fighter Wayne Elcock Eastman was surprisingly outworked and outpunched, dropping a shock points defeat by margins of 113-116, 113-115, 114-115. Elcock had previously been knocked out by Eastman-victim Scott Dann. Eastman was offered a final shot at contention, matched with John Duddy in Belfast. After a competitive 10 rounds, Eastman lost a unanimous decision. [citation needed]
Guyana
[edit]Eastman has continued his career in his country of birth, Guyana. He beat Denny Dalton to claim the Guyanese middleweight title, before securing victories over former WBA world welterweight champion Andrew Lewis, Leon Gilkes and Kevin Placide. In 2010 he served time in prison for possession of cannabis.
However, following the Placide fight, he went on a six-fight losing streak, losing to Kwesi Jones (September 2010, UD4), Kirt Sinnette (July 2011, TKO8, for the vacant WBC CABOFE light-heavyweight title), Edmund DeClou (October 2011, MD12, for the vacant Guyanese middleweight title), two defeats to Simeon Hardy in 2012 (UD10 and MD8) and Sakima Mullings (April 2013, UD12, for the vacant WBC CABOFE welterweight title).
Eastman ended this streak in August 2013, when he took a unanimous decision over Mark Austin over 8 rounds. In 2014, he entered the Jamaican version of the Contender series, where he was the second seed behind the aforementioned Mullings, and part of the Caribbean team. In his first fight against the Jamaican team, Eastman stopped Derrick Spencer in two rounds, his quickest win since 2003.[6]
Professional boxing record
[edit]62 fights | 49 wins | 13 losses |
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By knockout | 38 | 2 |
By decision | 11 | 11 |
No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | More |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
62 | Loss | 49–13 | ![]() |
UD | 8 | 18 Jun 2014 | ![]() |
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61 | Win | 49–12 | ![]() |
UD | 6 | 21 May 2014 | ![]() |
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60 | Win | 48–12 | ![]() |
KO | 2 (6), 1:50 | 30 Apr 2014 | ![]() |
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59 | Win | 47–12 | ![]() |
UD | 8 | 3 Aug 2013 | ![]() |
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58 | Loss | 46–12 | ![]() |
UD | 12 | 20 Apr 2013 | ![]() |
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57 | Loss | 46–11 | ![]() |
MD | 8 | 13 Oct 2012 | ![]() |
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56 | Loss | 46–10 | ![]() |
UD | 10 | 1 Jun 2012 | ![]() |
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55 | Loss | 46–9 | ![]() |
MD | 12 | 29 Oct 2011 | ![]() |
For vacant Guyanese middleweight title |
54 | Loss | 46–8 | ![]() |
TKO | 8 (10) | 29 Jul 2011 | ![]() |
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53 | Loss | 46–7 | ![]() |
UD | 4 | 24 Sep 2010 | ![]() |
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52 | Win | 46–6 | ![]() |
KO | 10 (10), 2:19 | 26 Sep 2009 | ![]() |
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51 | Win | 45–6 | ![]() |
UD | 10 | 28 Feb 2009 | ![]() |
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50 | Win | 44–6 | ![]() |
SD | 12 | 25 Oct 2008 | ![]() |
Retained Guyanese middleweight title |
49 | Win | 43–6 | ![]() |
MD | 12 | 5 Jul 2008 | ![]() |
Won Guyanese middleweight title |
48 | Loss | 42–6 | ![]() |
PTS | 10 | 8 Dec 2007 | ![]() |
|
47 | Loss | 42–5 | ![]() |
UD | 12 | 28 Sep 2007 | ![]() |
Lost BBBofC British middleweight title |
46 | Win | 42–4 | ![]() |
UD | 12 | 20 Apr 2007 | ![]() |
Won vacant Commonwealth middleweight title |
45 | Win | 41–4 | ![]() |
KO | 12 (12), 2:06 | 15 Dec 2006 | ![]() |
Won vacant BBBofC British middleweight title |
44 | Loss | 40–4 | ![]() |
TKO | 7 (12), 2:33 | 24 Mar 2006 | ![]() |
|
43 | Loss | 40–3 | ![]() |
UD | 12 | 16 Jul 2005 | ![]() |
For WBA Inter-Continental middleweight title |
42 | Loss | 40–2 | ![]() |
UD | 12 | 19 Feb 2005 | ![]() |
For WBA (Undisputed), WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring middleweight titles |
41 | Win | 40–1 | ![]() |
PTS | 10 | 24 Sep 2004 | ![]() |
|
40 | Win | 39–1 | ![]() |
UD | 12 | 30 Jan 2004 | ![]() |
Retained EBU European middleweight title |
39 | Win | 38–1 | ![]() |
RTD | 8 (12), 3:00 | 25 Jul 2003 | ![]() |
Retained EBU European middleweight title |
38 | Win | 37–1 | ![]() |
TKO | 3 (12), 2:52 | 16 Apr 2003 | ![]() |
Retained EBU European, Commonwealth, and BBBofC British middleweight titles |
37 | Win | 36–1 | ![]() |
TKO | 2 (8), 2:27 | 5 Mar 2003 | ![]() |
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36 | Win | 35–1 | ![]() |
RTD | 3 (12), 3:00 | 21 Jan 2003 | ![]() |
Won vacant EBU European middleweight title |
35 | Win | 34–1 | ![]() |
RTD | 4 (8), 3:00 | 21 Dec 2002 | ![]() |
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34 | Win | 33–1 | ![]() |
TKO | 1 (8), 1:03 | 25 Oct 2002 | ![]() |
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33 | Loss | 32–1 | ![]() |
MD | 12 | 17 Nov 2001 | ![]() |
For vacant WBA (Regular) middleweight title |
32 | Win | 32–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 10 (12), 1:54 | 10 Apr 2001 | ![]() |
Retained Commonwealth and BBBofC British middleweight titles; Won vacant EBU European middleweight title |
31 | Win | 31–0 | ![]() |
RTD | 5 (10), 3:00 | 5 Feb 2001 | ![]() |
|
30 | Win | 30–0 | ![]() |
PTS | 12 | 16 Sep 2000 | ![]() |
Won Commonwealth middleweight title |
29 | Win | 29–0 | ![]() |
RTD | 4 (10), 3:00 | 25 Jul 2000 | ![]() |
Won WBA International middleweight title |
28 | Win | 28–0 | ![]() |
RTD | 6 (8), 3:00 | 29 Apr 2000 | ![]() |
|
27 | Win | 27–0 | ![]() |
RTD | 4 (10), 3:00 | 4 Mar 2000 | ![]() |
|
26 | Win | 26–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 2 (10) | 18 Jan 2000 | ![]() |
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25 | Win | 25–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 8 (12), 1:45 | 13 Nov 1999 | ![]() |
Won CBA middleweight title |
24 | Win | 24–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 3 (12), 2:56 | 13 Sep 1999 | ![]() |
Won BBBofC British middleweight title |
23 | Win | 23–0 | ![]() |
RTD | 6 (12), 3:00 | 10 Jul 1999 | ![]() |
Won WBA Continental middleweight title |
22 | Win | 22–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 7 (12), 1:44 | 22 May 1999 | ![]() |
Won WBA Inter-Continental middleweight title |
21 | Win | 21–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 3 (12), 1:36 | 6 Mar 1999 | ![]() |
Won vacant IBO Inter-Continental super middleweight title |
20 | Win | 20–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 6 (8), 2:25 | 4 Feb 1999 | ![]() |
|
19 | Win | 19–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 7 (12), 1:45 | 30 Nov 1998 | ![]() |
Won vacant BBBofC British middleweight title |
18 | Win | 18–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 4 (8), 0:54 | 23 May 1998 | ![]() |
|
17 | Win | 17–0 | ![]() |
RTD | 4 (8), 3:00 | 28 Mar 1998 | ![]() |
|
16 | Win | 16–0 | ![]() |
PTS | 8 | 14 Feb 1998 | ![]() |
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15 | Win | 15–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 7 (8), 3:00 | 25 Mar 1997 | ![]() |
|
14 | Win | 14–0 | ![]() |
KO | 7 (8), 0:30 | 18 Feb 1997 | ![]() |
|
13 | Win | 13–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 10 (10) | 11 Dec 1996 | ![]() |
Won vacant BBBofC Southern Area middleweight title |
12 | Win | 12–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 5 (8) | 29 Apr 1996 | ![]() |
|
11 | Win | 11–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 5 (8) | 13 Mar 1996 | ![]() |
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10 | Win | 10–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 1 (6), 2:32 | 31 Jan 1996 | ![]() |
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9 | Win | 9–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 2 (6) | 29 Nov 1995 | ![]() |
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8 | Win | 8–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 1 (6) | 16 Oct 1995 | ![]() |
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7 | Win | 7–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 1 (6) | 23 Jun 1995 | ![]() |
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6 | Win | 6–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 2 (6) | 20 Apr 1995 | ![]() |
|
5 | Win | 5–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 1 (6) | 6 Mar 1995 | ![]() |
|
4 | Win | 4–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 6 (6) | 17 Oct 1994 | ![]() |
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3 | Win | 3–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 5 (6), 1:18 | 22 Mar 1994 | ![]() |
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2 | Win | 2–0 | ![]() |
PTS | 6 | 14 Mar 1994 | ![]() |
|
1 | Win | 1–0 | ![]() |
TKO | 1 (6) | 6 Mar 1994 | ![]() |
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ BBC coverage of Eastman-McCracken match
- ^ BBC coverage of Eastman-Tendil match
- ^ Hennessy Sports coverage of Eastman-Hopkins match Archived 10 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Hennessy Sports coverage of Eastman-Abraham match Archived 10 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ www.hennessysports.com Archived 10 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Eastman batters Spencer in Contender series
External links
[edit]- Boxing record for Howard Eastman from BoxRec (registration required)