Howard Eastman: From Battersea to Guyana

It’s now nine years since Howard Eastman, the Battersea Bomber, travelled to Los Angeles to face Bernard Hopkins to challenge for the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO middleweight titles. In his historic twentieth defence, Hopkins comfortably outpointed Eastman and shattered the Londoner's dream of holding a world title. After back-to-back defeats to Arthur Abraham (2005) and Edison Miranda (2006), Eastman fought for, and won, the vacant British middleweight title in 2006 and vacant Commonwealth title in 2007, but he would never again reach the heights of challenging for major world honours.

His final bout in the UK was a defeat to then undefeated Irishman John Duddy at the Kings Hall in Belfast, and since then Eastman has largely fallen off the radar of boxing fans in the UK.

What many will not know is that Eastman, now 43, has had a largely uninterrupted spell of boxing back in his native Guyana since 2008. He won the Guyanese middleweight title in 2008 by defeating Denny Dalton, after which he made one defence against Andrew Lewis - who is, interestingly, the first, and only Guyanese boxer to hold a world title. Eastman has since fought for the Guyanese title in 2011, losing to Edmund DeClou, and the vacant WBC Caribbean title twice, losing to Kirt Sinnette in 2011 and Sakima Mullings in 2013.

Born in New Amsterdam, Guyana and raised in South London, Eastman served in the Gulf War in the Royal Fusiliers. He turned professional in 1994 and quickly developed a reputation as a heavy hitting middleweight, stopping 29 of his first 32 opponents, winning the British, European and Commonwealth titles in the process.

His first shot at world glory came against William Joppy at Mandalay Bay in 2001, losing to what was a controversial majority decision. Eastman had the American down in the final few seconds of the twelfth round, but it was not enough to sway the scorecards in his favour, and he was sent home empty handed.

Before and after his powerful stoppage of Scott Dann in 2003 (see video below) there was serious speculation that Eastman would face off against WBO super middleweight champion Joe Calzaghe. It’s worth noting that this was pre-Jeff Lacy, when Calzaghe was still regarded by some, despite holding a world title, as a domestic boxer. We can only speculate as to how the bout might have transpired but it certainly would have been interesting.

Following the disappointment of defeat against Joppy, Eastman notched up eight consecutive victories, and whilst the Calzaghe bout would never materialise, he was rewarded with a shot at Bernard Hopkins.

Eastman’s popularity in the UK was at an all-time high at this point, and his dyed beard and explosive punching power made him instantly recognisable on the British boxing scene. But it was not to be for Eastman, and Hopkins had answers for all of the questions that were asked of him in the ring.

There were some initial calls for rematch but, given the wide points difference (110-119, 111-117, 112-116), this was never likely to happen.

Eastman was due to face Barbados born Guyanese super middleweight champion Dereck Richmond on Jan 26 this year. The event, however, the 31st edition of Guyana Fight Night at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall in Georgetown was cancelled. The reason for this was reported to be problems with sponsorship. Eon Jardine, the referee and matchmaker, opted to cancel the event.

Would a victory have meant anything in the broader context of international super middleweight boxing? No. But what is positive is that Eastman, once described by a judge no less, as bringing “pride and glory” to the country of Guyana, is continuing to inspire his fellow countrymen. Guyana, which has a total population that is smaller than Leeds (approx. 750,000) needs men like Eastman to inspire its younger generation of pugilists. Eastman may not have become only the second Guyanese boxer to win a world title, but the fact that there are only 35 active professionals listed on BoxRec, with undefeated featherweight Clive Atwell topping their pound-for-pound rankings, emphasises the importance of Eastman's influence.