Eastman revels in victory over Williams
Guyana Chronicle
December 18, 2006
0BETHNAL GREEN, England, (CMC) – The London-based Guyanese Howard Eastman dominated his long-time colleague Richard Williams and registered an impressive 12th round knockout win in their British middleweight title fight on Friday night at York Hall.
After building up a wide lead on the scorecards, Eastman polished off Williams with a crushing right hand near the end of the fight to reclaim the belt he had given up three years ago to pursue a world title.
The victory ended a three-fight losing streak for the 36-year-old Eastman, who is hoping to land another world title shot next year.
Eastman and the 35-year-old Williams, a former Commonwealth light-middleweight champion, have been friends for 20 years.
"It's extremely difficult to fight a friend (but) I'm glad that Richard is okay,” Eastman told reporters.
Eastman appeared to be coasting to a lopsided points victory until his powerful right hand terminated the bout at 2:06 of the final round.
All three judges had the Eastman clearly in front at the time by scores of 109-101, 108-102 and 107-103.
The win improved Eastman’s record to 41 wins (35 knockouts) against four defeats, and Williams slipped to 21 wins (17 knockouts) against four losses and one draw.
Eastman had not won a fight since September 2004.
He lost on points to undisputed world middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins in February 2005 and Germany’s Arthur Abraham defeated him -- also on points -- five months later.
Eastman then faced hard-hitting Colombian Edison Miranda in a pivotal world title eliminator in March this year and lost on a seventh-round technical knockout (TKO), the first time in his career that he had been stopped.
He twice fought for the world middleweight title. Just over three years before Hopkins defeated him, he had lost a close decision to American William Joppy in November 2001.