This is the final instalment of our series on professional boxers who we feel are worthy of being in this newspaper’s Hall of Fame.
He is easily recognizable by his dyed (or bleached) beard which is in stark contrast to the hair on his head, making him an enigma of sorts. Beard or hair apart, Howard `Battersea Bomber” Eastman is more widely known for his two world title fights against William Joppy and Bernard Hopkins.
Eastman, to date, is the first and only Guyana-born boxer to fight for four world titles at one time. Why Guyana-born and not Guyanese, you might ask? Well, that is because Eastman, though he was born in the quaint little town of New Amsterdam, Berbice, was fighting for the Union Jack at the time and not the Golden Arrowhead.
You see Eastman left Guyana for England while in his teens. Two years after leaving Guyana for greener pastures, Eastman was put out of his home by his father. At just 17 years of age, the Battersea Bomber found himself homeless and on the streets.
His escape was the military. Eastman participated in the Gulf War, the Royal Fusiliers, a line infantry regiment of the British Army.
One is not sure when he took up boxing possibly it was a way of survival for someone who had to fight on the streets for survival but he was soon to attract the attention of the boxing world with his precocious talent. He rushed into stardom with an unbeaten streak of 31-0 with a plethora of knockouts (28) to catapult himself into the limelight and into British boxing’s elite middleweights by winning the British Boxing Board of Control middleweight title with a TKO of John Foster.
The titles continued to flow from his fists including the WBA international middleweight title and the Commonwealth (British Empire) middleweight title beating Sam Soliman.
He then added the European Middleweight title to set up a title fight with Joppy. At stake was the vacant WBA middleweight title. That fight took place on November 17, 2001 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Las Vegas. The result, the Battersea Bomber’s first defeat albeit a controversial one at that as Joppy was dropped in the final round and some sections of the crowd booed the decision.
Eastman returned to action almost a year later fighting Charden Ansoula on October 25, 2002 winning by a TKO. After seven more wins his biggest fight came against Bernard `The Executioner’ Hopkins. Not only was it Hopkins’ 20th title defence, the fight was also for the undisputed middleweight title with the winner receiving the WBA super middleweight title, the WBC middleweight title, the IBF international middleweight title and the WBO world middleweight title. The bout, which took place on February 19, 2005 saw a game Eastman losing by a unanimous decision.
After a few more fights in the UK Eastman returned home. Guyana, by that time had another boxing hero. Andrew `Sixhead’ Lewis had beaten Eastman in the race to become the first Guyana-born boxer to win a world title. They were fated to meet although at the time neither knew that.
Eastman arrived at a time when the Guyana Boxing Board of Control, through its president Peter Abdool, was attempting to revive the fistic sport. Abdool, with sponsorship from corporate Guyana, held several cards featuring both amateur and professional boxers.
It was while travelling to participate at one of these cards that a vehicle which Eastman was in, was stopped by the police and found to contain a quantity of marijuana.
Eastman’s first fight upon returning home was against `Deadly’ Denny Dalton for the national middleweight title and Eastman won a majority decision in the fight which took place at the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall on July 5, 2008. He next eeked out a split decision win over `Sixhead’ Lewis at the National Stadium, three months later on October 25. However, after defeating Leon Gilkes and Kevn Placide of Trinidad, Eastman’s armour began to crack. Whereas he had only lost to quality fighters like Edison Miranda and Arthur Abraham, in addition to the two world title fights, now Eastman was losing to lesser mortals.
He lost six fights in a row to fighters such as Kwesi Jones, Kirt Sinnette, Edmond De Clou, Simeon Hardy (twice) and Sakima Mullings of Jamaica. He then rebounded with three more wins over Mark Austin, Dereck Spencer and Kevin Hylton at the Wray and Nephew Contender Series in Jamaica before ending his career with a loss to Tsetsi Davis.
Eastman ended with a career record of 49 wins (38 kayoes) and 13 losses.
Howard Eastman might have spent the better part of his life in England but he remains a Guyanese and one of the better fighters this country has produced and for that this newspaper inducts him into its Boxing Hall of Fame.
