Eastman has Hopkins firmly in his sights
Stabroek News
January 26, 2004
Howard Eastman remains haunted by the night he let a world title slip from his grasp.
Faced with a world-class foe in American William Joppy in Las Vegas in November 2001, the Battersea Bomber sent his rival to the canvas in the final seconds of an absorbing fight, only to end up dropping a majority points decision.
Eastman prowled around the ring as the scores were announced, his impassive features betraying nothing of the inner turmoil he felt.
Despite being untested on the world stage, Eastman had trenchantly pushed Joppy to the limit, yet a lethargic spell at the midway point almost certainly cost him the vacant World Boxing Association middleweight belt.
It remains the sole blemish in a curiously unfulfilled 39-fight career.
"I think about that fight every day of my life," confessed Eastman, who despite being one of Britain's few world-class operators still appears better-known for his dyed goatee beard and eccentric reputation.
"But I don't consider that Joppy fight a defeat; it was a robbery. Even the American public were on my side."
Support is something Eastman has frequently lacked. Widely regarded as a wayward maverick, he appears, at one time or another, to have crossed swords with just about every significant figure in the British fight game.
Banished from his strict West Indian home in his late teens, the Guyana-born Eastman - a cousin of cricketer Carl Hooper - spent a couple of years living rough in south London. A near-fatal motorcycle accident coupled with his singular outlook and a stubborn refusal to conform helped to fuel his reputation as a bit of a fruitcake.
An anticipated rematch against Joppy failed to materialise and Eastman, who turned 33 last month, appears to have been marking time ever since.
None of his last six opponents have gone the distance against a man now generally regarded as the No 2 middleweight on the planet.
On Friday he defends his European crown against Russia's Sergey Tatevosyan at Dagenham's Gorebrook Leisure Centre.
Yet Eastman's ultimate target is undisputed champion Bernard Hopkins, who the Londoner is convinced he will meet before the end of the year.
"I believe I'm getting closer," he said. As the American's mandatory WBC challenger, the Londoner can expect their showdown to take place in September.
After years of swapping trainers with alarming frequency - John Rooney was cursorily dismissed days before the Joppy fight - Eastman seems settled with Birmingham's Robert Mc-Cracken, the man he stopped in 10 rounds in a classic triple title showdown in April 2001. Genuine bad feeling between the pair triggered an unseemly scuffle in the run-up to that fight, but Eastman and McCracken have now forged a strong alliance.Away from boxing, Eastman retains his love for fast motorbikes but recently sold his collection of 30 pet parrots claiming that he needed to concentrate on boxing. "One of the birds was called Tyson," he chuckled.
"He didn't actually go round biting people's ears, but he was a particularly vicious parrot."In the last two years, Eastman has appeared a class apart from his 160lb rivals. Plymouth's impressive Scott Dann was dismantled in three. Tatevosyan has never been stopped in 23 fights, which is all the incentive Eastman requires as he chases that career-defining fight with Hopkins. (Fightnews)