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 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. 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.

World title challenger 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.BBC coverage of Eastman-McCracken match

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,BBC coverage of Eastman-Tendil match 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.Hennessy Sports coverage of Eastman-Hopkins match

After the world title fights 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.Hennessy Sports coverage of Eastman-Abraham match 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.www.hennessysports.com

Reclaiming his belts 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.

Guyana 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.Eastman batters Spencer in Contender series

Professional boxing record

ResultRecordOpponentTypeRound, timeDateLocationMore62Loss49–13 Tsetsi DavisUD818 Jun 2014 61Win49–12 Kevin HyltonUD621 May 2014 60Win48–12 Derrick SpencerKO2 (6), 30 Apr 2014 59Win47–12 Mark AustinUD83 Aug 2013 58Loss46–12 Sakima MullingsUD1220 Apr 2013 57Loss46–11 Simeon HardyMD813 Oct 2012 56Loss46–10 Simeon HardyUD101 Jun 2012 55Loss46–9 Edmund DeClouMD1229 Oct 2011 54Loss46–8 Kirt SinnetteTKO8 (10)29 Jul 2011 53Loss46–7 Kwesi JonesUD424 Sep 2010 52Win46–6 Kevin PlacideKO10 (10), 26 Sep 2009 51Win45–6 Leon GilkesUD1028 Feb 2009 50Win44–6 Andrew Lewis1225 Oct 2008 49Win43–6 Denny DaltonMD125 Jul 2008 48Loss42–6 John DuddyPTS108 Dec 2007 47Loss42–5 Wayne ElcockUD1228 Sep 2007 46Win42–4 Evans AshiraUD1220 Apr 2007 45Win41–4 Richard WilliamsKO12 (12), 15 Dec 2006 44Loss40–4 Edison MirandaTKO7 (12), 24 Mar 2006 43Loss40–3 Arthur AbrahamUD1216 Jul 2005 42Loss40–2 Bernard HopkinsUD1219 Feb 2005 41Win40–1 Jerry ElliottPTS1024 Sep 2004 40Win39–1 Sergey Tatevosyan1230 Jan 2004 39Win38–1 Hacine CherifiRTD8 (12), 25 Jul 2003 38Win37–1 Scott DannTKO3 (12), 16 Apr 2003 37Win36–1 Gary BeardsleyTKO2 (8), 5 Mar 2003 36Win35–1 Christophe TendilRTD3 (12), 21 Jan 2003 35Win34–1 Hussain OsmanRTD4 (8), 21 Dec 2002 34Win33–1 Charden AnsoulaTKO1 (8), 25 Oct 2002 33Loss32–1 William Joppy1217 Nov 2001 32Win32–0 Robert McCrackenTKO10 (12), 10 Apr 2001 31Win31–0 Mark BakerRTD5 (10), 5 Feb 2001 30Win30–0 Sam SolimanPTS1216 Sep 2000 29Win29–0 Akhmet DottuevRTD4 (10), 25 Jul 2000 28Win28–0 Anthony IvoryRTD6 (8), 29 Apr 2000 27Win27–0 Viktor FesechkoRTD4 (10), 4 Mar 2000 26Win26–0 Ojay AbrahamsTKO2 (10)18 Jan 2000 25Win25–0 Mike AlgoetTKO8 (12), 13 Nov 1999 24Win24–0 Derek WormaldTKO3 (12), 13 Sep 1999 23Win23–0 Teimuraz KekelidzeRTD6 (12), 10 Jul 1999 22Win22–0 Roman BabaevTKO7 (12), 22 May 1999 21Win21–0 Jon PennTKO3 (12), 6 Mar 1999 20Win20–0 Jason BarkerTKO6 (8), 4 Feb 1999 19Win19–0 Steve FosterTKO7 (12), 30 Nov 1998 18Win18–0 Darren AshtonTKO4 (8), 23 May 1998 17Win17–0 Terry Morrill4 (8), 28 Mar 1998 16Win16–0 Vitaly KopytkoPTS814 Feb 1998 15Win15–0 Rachid SerdjaneTKO7 (8), 25 Mar 1997 14Win14–0 John Duckworth7 (8), 18 Feb 1997 13Win13–0 Sven HamerTKO10 (10)11 Dec 1996 12Win12–0 John DuckworthTKO5 (8)29 Apr 1996 11Win11–0 Steve GoodwinTKO5 (8)13 Mar 1996 10Win10–0 Paul WesleyTKO1 (6), 31 Jan 1996 9Win9–0 Brendan RyanTKO2 (6)29 Nov 1995 8Win8–0 Carlo ColarussoTKO1 (6)16 Oct 1995 7Win7–0 Peter VosperTKO1 (6)23 Jun 1995 6Win6–0 Stuart DunnTKO2 (6)20 Apr 1995 5Win5–0 Marty DukeTKO1 (6)6 Mar 1995 4Win4–0 Barry ThorogoodTKO6 (6)17 Oct 1994 3Win3–0 Steve PhillipsTKO5 (6), 22 Mar 1994 2Win2–0 Andy Peach614 Mar 1994 1Win1–0 John Rice1 (6)6 Mar 1994

See also List of British middleweight boxing champions

References

External links

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