# Howard Eastman

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.
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, 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.

## 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. 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.

## 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.

## Professional boxing record

| 62 fights | 49 wins | 13 losses |
| By knockout | 38 | 2 |
| By decision | 11 | 11 |
| No. | Result | Record | Opponent | Type | Round, time | Date | Location | More |
| 62 | Loss | 49–13 | Tsetsi Davis | UD | 8 | 18 Jun 2014 | Wray & Nephew Contender Coliseum, Kingston, Jamaica | |
| 61 | Win | 49–12 | Kevin Hylton | UD | 6 | 21 May 2014 | Chinese Benevolent Association Auditorium, Kingston, Jamaica | |
| 60 | Win | 48–12 | Derrick Spencer | KO | 2 (6), 1:50 | 30 Apr 2014 | Chinese Benevolent Association Auditorium, Kingston, Jamaica | |
| 59 | Win | 47–12 | Mark Austin | UD | 8 | 3 Aug 2013 | Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, Georgetown, Guyana | |
| 58 | Loss | 46–12 | Sakima Mullings | UD | 12 | 20 Apr 2013 | Princess Hotel, Georgetown, Guyana | |
| 57 | Loss | 46–11 | Simeon Hardy | MD | 8 | 13 Oct 2012 | Thirst Park, Georgetown, Guyana | |
| 56 | Loss | 46–10 | Simeon Hardy | UD | 10 | 1 Jun 2012 | Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, Georgetown, Guyana | |
| 55 | Loss | 46–9 | Edmund DeClou | MD | 12 | 29 Oct 2011 | Thirst Park, Georgetown, Guyana | For vacant Guyanese middleweight title |
| 54 | Loss | 46–8 | Kirt Sinnette | TKO | 8 (10) | 29 Jul 2011 | Jean Pierre Sports Complex, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago | |
| 53 | Loss | 46–7 | Kwesi Jones | UD | 4 | 24 Sep 2010 | Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, Georgetown, Guyana | |
| 52 | Win | 46–6 | Kevin Placide | KO | 10 (10), 2:19 | 26 Sep 2009 | Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, Georgetown, Guyana | |
| 51 | Win | 45–6 | Leon Gilkes | UD | 10 | 28 Feb 2009 | Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, Georgetown, Guyana | |
| 50 | Win | 44–6 | Andrew Lewis | SD | 12 | 25 Oct 2008 | Guyana National Stadium, Georgetown, Guyana | Retained Guyanese middleweight title |
| 49 | Win | 43–6 | Denny Dalton | MD | 12 | 5 Jul 2008 | Cliff Anderson Sports Hall, Georgetown, Guyana | Won Guyanese middleweight title |
| 48 | Loss | 42–6 | John Duddy | PTS | 10 | 8 Dec 2007 | King's Hall, Belfast, Northern Ireland | |
| 47 | Loss | 42–5 | Wayne Elcock | UD | 12 | 28 Sep 2007 | Coventry Skydome, Coventry, England | Lost BBBofC British middleweight title |
| 46 | Win | 42–4 | Evans Ashira | UD | 12 | 20 Apr 2007 | Dudley Town Hall, Dudley, England | Won vacant Commonwealth middleweight title |
| 45 | Win | 41–4 | Richard Williams | KO | 12 (12), 2:06 | 15 Dec 2006 | York Hall, London, England | Won vacant BBBofC British middleweight title |
| 44 | Loss | 40–4 | Edison Miranda | TKO | 7 (12), 2:33 | 24 Mar 2006 | Hard Rock Live, Hollywood, Florida, U.S. | |
| 43 | Loss | 40–3 | Arthur Abraham | UD | 12 | 16 Jul 2005 | Nuremberg Arena, Nuremberg, Germany | For WBA Inter-Continental middleweight title |
| 42 | Loss | 40–2 | Bernard Hopkins | UD | 12 | 19 Feb 2005 | Staples Center, Los Angeles, California, U.S. | For WBA (Undisputed), WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring middleweight titles |
| 41 | Win | 40–1 | Jerry Elliott | PTS | 10 | 24 Sep 2004 | Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, England | |
| 40 | Win | 39–1 | Sergey Tatevosyan | UD | 12 | 30 Jan 2004 | Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham, England | Retained EBU European middleweight title |
| 39 | Win | 38–1 | Hacine Cherifi | RTD | 8 (12), 3:00 | 25 Jul 2003 | Sports Village, Norwich, England | Retained EBU European middleweight title |
| 38 | Win | 37–1 | Scott Dann | TKO | 3 (12), 2:52 | 16 Apr 2003 | Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, England | Retained EBU European, Commonwealth, and BBBofC British middleweight titles |
| 37 | Win | 36–1 | Gary Beardsley | TKO | 2 (8), 2:27 | 5 Mar 2003 | York Hall, London, England | |
| 36 | Win | 35–1 | Christophe Tendil | RTD | 3 (12), 3:00 | 21 Jan 2003 | Nottingham Arena, Nottingham, England | Won vacant EBU European middleweight title |
| 35 | Win | 34–1 | Hussain Osman | RTD | 4 (8), 3:00 | 21 Dec 2002 | Goresbrook Leisure Centre, Dagenham, England | |
| 34 | Win | 33–1 | Charden Ansoula | TKO | 1 (8), 1:03 | 25 Oct 2002 | York Hall, London, England | |
| 33 | Loss | 32–1 | William Joppy | MD | 12 | 17 Nov 2001 | Mandalay Bay Events Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. | For vacant WBA (Regular) middleweight title |
| 32 | Win | 32–0 | Robert McCracken | TKO | 10 (12), 1:54 | 10 Apr 2001 | Wembley Conference Centre, London, England | Retained Commonwealth and BBBofC British middleweight titles; Won vacant EBU European middleweight title |
| 31 | Win | 31–0 | Mark Baker | RTD | 5 (10), 3:00 | 5 Feb 2001 | Hull City Hall, Kingston upon Hull, England | |
| 30 | Win | 30–0 | Sam Soliman | PTS | 12 | 16 Sep 2000 | York Hall, London, England | Won Commonwealth middleweight title |
| 29 | Win | 29–0 | Akhmet Dottuev | RTD | 4 (10), 3:00 | 25 Jul 2000 | Elephant & Castle Centre, London, England | Won WBA International middleweight title |
| 28 | Win | 28–0 | Anthony Ivory | RTD | 6 (8), 3:00 | 29 Apr 2000 | Wembley Arena, London, England | |
| 27 | Win | 27–0 | Viktor Fesechko | RTD | 4 (10), 3:00 | 4 Mar 2000 | Werrington Sports Centre, Peterborough, England | |
| 26 | Win | 26–0 | Ojay Abrahams | TKO | 2 (10) | 18 Jan 2000 | Mansfield Leisure Centre, Mansfield, England | |
| 25 | Win | 25–0 | Mike Algoet | TKO | 8 (12), 1:45 | 13 Nov 1999 | K.C. Sports Arena, Kingston upon Hull, England | Won CBA middleweight title |
| 24 | Win | 24–0 | Derek Wormald | TKO | 3 (12), 2:56 | 13 Sep 1999 | York Hall, London, England | Won BBBofC British middleweight title |
| 23 | Win | 23–0 | Teimuraz Kekelidze | RTD | 6 (12), 3:00 | 10 Jul 1999 | Elephant & Castle Centre, London, England | Won WBA Continental middleweight title |
| 22 | Win | 22–0 | Roman Babaev | TKO | 7 (12), 1:44 | 22 May 1999 | Maysfield Leisure Centre, Belfast, Northern Ireland | Won WBA Inter-Continental middleweight title |
| 21 | Win | 21–0 | Jon Penn | TKO | 3 (12), 1:36 | 6 Mar 1999 | Elephant & Castle Centre, London, England | Won vacant IBO Inter-Continental super middleweight title |
| 20 | Win | 20–0 | Jason Barker | TKO | 6 (8), 2:25 | 4 Feb 1999 | Concert Theatre, London, England | |
| 19 | Win | 19–0 | Steve Foster | TKO | 7 (12), 1:45 | 30 Nov 1998 | Bowlers Exhibition Centre, Manchester, England | Won vacant BBBofC British middleweight title |
| 18 | Win | 18–0 | Darren Ashton | TKO | 4 (8), 0:54 | 23 May 1998 | York Hall, London, England | |
| 17 | Win | 17–0 | Terry Morrill | RTD | 4 (8), 3:00 | 28 Mar 1998 | Hull Arena, Kingston upon Hull, England | |
| 16 | Win | 16–0 | Vitaly Kopytko | PTS | 8 | 14 Feb 1998 | Elephant & Castle Centre, London, England | |
| 15 | Win | 15–0 | Rachid Serdjane | TKO | 7 (8), 3:00 | 25 Mar 1997 | Lewisham Theatre, London, England | |
| 14 | Win | 14–0 | John Duckworth | KO | 7 (8), 0:30 | 18 Feb 1997 | Grundy Park Leisure Centre, Cheshunt, England | |
| 13 | Win | 13–0 | Sven Hamer | TKO | 10 (10) | 11 Dec 1996 | Elephant & Castle Centre, London, England | Won vacant BBBofC Southern Area middleweight title |
| 12 | Win | 12–0 | John Duckworth | TKO | 5 (8) | 29 Apr 1996 | Marriott Hotel, London, England | |
| 11 | Win | 11–0 | Steve Goodwin | TKO | 5 (8) | 13 Mar 1996 | Brent Town Hall, London, England | |
| 10 | Win | 10–0 | Paul Wesley | TKO | 1 (6), 2:32 | 31 Jan 1996 | Aston Villa Leisure Centre, Birmingham, England | |
| 9 | Win | 9–0 | Brendan Ryan | TKO | 2 (6) | 29 Nov 1995 | York Hall, London, England | |
| 8 | Win | 8–0 | Carlo Colarusso | TKO | 1 (6) | 16 Oct 1995 | Marriott Hotel, London, England | |
| 7 | Win | 7–0 | Peter Vosper | TKO | 1 (6) | 23 Jun 1995 | York Hall, London, England | |
| 6 | Win | 6–0 | Stuart Dunn | TKO | 2 (6) | 20 Apr 1995 | London Hilton on Park Lane, London, England | |
| 5 | Win | 5–0 | Marty Duke | TKO | 1 (6) | 6 Mar 1995 | Marriott Hotel, London, England | |
| 4 | Win | 4–0 | Barry Thorogood | TKO | 6 (6) | 17 Oct 1994 | Marriott Hotel, London, England | |
| 3 | Win | 3–0 | Steve Phillips | TKO | 5 (6), 1:18 | 22 Mar 1994 | York Hall, London, England | |
| 2 | Win | 2–0 | Andy Peach | PTS | 6 | 14 Mar 1994 | Marriott Hotel, London, England | |
| 1 | Win | 1–0 | John Rice | TKO | 1 (6) | 6 Mar 1994 | Elephant & Castle Centre, London, England | |