Eastman back on the glory road
By John Mair
in London
Stabroek News
April 22, 2003
Eighteen months after losing out to William Joppy in Las Vega, Guyanese born middleweight boxer Howard Eastman kept his world title aspirations on track with a clinical three-round demolition of Scott Dann in Nottingham, England last week.
Eastman retained his British, Commonwealth and European titles with a big right uppercut, prompting referee Larry O’Connell to stop the increasingly one-sided contest.
After the fight, Eastman admitted : “Scott Dann was a tough and brave kid and I needed to be spectacular tonight.
“But that was not the best of Howard Eastman. As the opponents get better I move up a gear.”
Eastman was born in Berbice in 1970 then emigrated to the UK. Here he is known as ‘The Battersea Bomber’ and has a stunning fight record since turning pro nearly a decade ago. He’s won 35 bouts and lost just one-to Joppy in a controversial result. He fights in shorts which have both the Golden Arrowhead and the Union Jack to show his dual nationality.
After the disappointment of the Joppy fight, Eastman took time out to return to Guyana for a sustained break with his family in Berbice. He told the Stabroek Sports that he was concerned that more use was not made of his pugilistic and training skills whilst he was in his homeland.
Refreshed, he has returned to the ring and in a twist of fate his new trainer is Robert McCracken the very same man he demolished in 2001 at Wembley to win the British and European belts. Mcracken has turned from foe to firm fan. He feels Eastman is the best pound-for-pound fighter in Britain and can go on to be the number one middleweight in the world.
And coupled with this undoubted talent is Eastman’s supreme confidence about any POSSIBLE world championship bout.
“I am ready to fight now. I don’t care if it is here or if it is back in America. I am not scared of going over there and bringing the title back .”
Eastman has been adopted by the BBC as one of their boxing icons to help them get back some of the face they may have lost through backing the pro career super heavyweight Audley Harri-son. So far Harrison has fought straw men and sometimes failed to blow them down quickly. His fights have gone from the prime time to the nether regions of the TV night . Eastman looks a better bet “The BBC wants a world title and I am here to bring it home.” He says. And he just might. To both of his homes.
