BoxRec

whos wins this fight if these two were to fight in december at super middle

howard eastman is britains #1 confort zone fighter in my mind, many of you will disagree,


i say calzaghe WILL stop Eastman the better speed and work rate will win the day,

Eastman all the way!!!

No way does Joe stop Howard...Howard has a granite chin and has no problem taking shots, especially from a guy like Calzaghe, who, although he throws a lot of shots doesn't sit down on his punches and shoot them straight as much as he could/should. Eastman is a bit like James Toney in that he can easily soak up punsihment and pressure and really break the heart of his opponent. I see this happening against Calzaghe, who will start quickly and will be the busier of the two...but will then realise he cannot hurt Eastman and he'll begin to fade down the stretch, and Eastman will grow in confidence as Calzaghe becomes more reserved a la Starie - Calzaghe...leaving Eastman to narrowly outpoint him on aggression down the stretch.


At least that's how I hope it would unfold

hi GITR

Who are alder shot losing 2 2day,

i dont think this fight would happen but could be fight of the year,

Aldershot are playing Northwich Victoria at home, it's a winnable match for us, but there's a few injuries and suspensions that may effect the team put out.

Gutted that we lost 4-3 to Hereford on Bank Holiday Monday...they are one of the favs for the league, and we were 2-0 up, away from home after only 8 minutes. They scored the winner in the 94th minutes after we had our best player sent off, and our keeper was subbed at h/t cos' he had a run in with the gaffer. Great, exciting game though, just a shame about the result.

Aldershot Town 2-0 Northwich Victoria

get in the ring wrote:Eastman all the way!!!

No way does Joe stop Howard...Howard has a granite chin and has no problem taking shots, especially from a guy like Calzaghe, who, although he throws a lot of shots doesn't sit down on his punches and shoot them straight as much as he could/should. Eastman is a bit like James Toney in that he can easily soak up punsihment and pressure and really break the heart of his opponent. I see this happening against Calzaghe, who will start quickly and will be the busier of the two...but will then realise he cannot hurt Eastman and he'll begin to fade down the stretch, and Eastman will grow in confidence as Calzaghe becomes more reserved a la Starie - Calzaghe...leaving Eastman to narrowly outpoint him on aggression down the stretch.


At least that's how I hope it would unfold

GITR.

Now, I'm no big Calzaghe fan, but I really can't understand this hype surrounding Eastman.

Firstly, Eastman has not got hurt facing Middleweights - but he hasn't even faced a World class punching Middleweight. Joppy's world class no doubt - but not a puncher. I'm not saying Calzaghe is Tyson, far from it, and I agree with you I think this will be a distant fight, but Eastman hasn't been chin hasn't been tested against Elite punchers. Fortunately (if his chin is poor - which I don't think it is) Calzaghe doesn't fall into this bracket.

However, there is no way Howard can live with Calzaghe's work-rate. For me, Howard is just a shade short of championship winning class, world class but I'll be surprised if he'll hold a geniune belt (from a decent champion) at either Middle or Supermiddle. I used to think that he was the real deal and I used to predict an Eastman win think that in his fights prior to Joppy he also had another 2 gears to step up. Beating guys, even of the callibre of Steve Foster and Robert McCraken in "third gear" were excellent performances.

Then came his world title defeat, and yes Joppy won the fight clearly on my card. Still I had faith that Howard blew his chance, it wasn't Joppy who was better it was Howard still fighting in "3rd gear".

However, it is his subsequent performance that have convinced me that Howard all along has been fighting in top gear and his victory against McCraken was as good as it will get performance wise. This unfortunately is not good enough to win a world title.

Calzaghe is faster than him, got as good stamina as him (When fit Calzaghe doesn't fade at all - remember his battles with Brewer and Eubank). Eastman is a lumbering fighter with poor footwork and handspeed (which got shown when he stepped up - the only time he has) his power is also over-rated.

He's decent but really a match with Calzaghe is not deserved and he really should find out if he's the second best Supermiddle in the country first. Somehow I think if he fought the likes of Reid, Starie(?), Cately and Magee first people will know longer be talking up this match - cause he would have lost. Please don't mention Cherifi as proof of his ability, he was an old man who was used as a Comeback opponent for Trinidad who was coming back from an hiding - that speaks volumes about Cherifi's current form. Ranking position or no ranking position Cherifi was once a decent fighter, but he was finished when Eastman fought him.

If Starie ever changed his mind I'd pick him to beat Eastman, Reid would be close - cause there's another fighter rediculously over-rated.

If Dean Francis could ever get 100% fit, remember he's is thinking about giving it one last go - then he would embarress Eastman. He'd beat Calzaghe aswell in my opinion.

First off stu,


I think Howard is in a real hard position at the moment...career wise. He's the triple champion (Brit, Commonwealth and Euro) and no one within that proximity can touch him IMO. However, assuming Howard stays at 160, who is there for him outside of Hopkins and Joppy? Who can Howard face outside of europe that will help his reputation. People go on about the super middle and crusierweight divisions lacking depth, well I'd say the middleweight division is worse that both of them. You have a faded Keith Holmes, and inconsistent and unknown to the non boxing public Robert Allen, guys like Tito Mendoza who are no goers and then the up n coming Jermain Taylor.

Now, Hopkins is avoiding a challenge like the plague. He's 38, his shelf time is running out and he's looking for the easy bob, fair play to him, but don't expect to be labelled a legend off the back of one great win.
Joppy is very beatable IMO, and I'm not sure how you had Joppy winning clearly against Eastman??? It was an extremely close fight, one or two points either way. To be honest I had Joppy by one point, and i'll honestly say I thought he just did enough and deserved it (of course I didn't tell Howard that )

Hopkins and Joppy are the only two fighters at middleweight who can further Eastman's reputation (assuming the Namibian bomber Harry Simon doesn't fight again). So what can he do???

You mention big punching middleweights, well I'm sure Howard would fight one...if there were any. Let's be honest, the two best in the division (Hopkins and Joppy) are more stylists than gunslingers. However, just because power isn't an issue with them doesn't make them any less a fighter.

The work rate thing I definitely agree on. Howard on fire, is a great fighter. But Howard day dreaming, and playing punch and judy can be very frustrating. He can't afford lapses against Joe, and if he can match Joe every step of the way he has a good shot...because I seriously don't think Joe can hurt him.

I think Rob McCracken could be a key element in this matchup if it were made. I'm sorry, but Eastman's corner against Joppy was nothng short of abysmal. They should have been yelling at him 'work, work, work' and injecting some form of urgency. With McCracken in his corner I don't see Eastman doing the same old 'time offs' during fights. I simply don't think Rob takes to much cr@p from Eastman, and will put him straight if he switches off.

It's a great potential match up, and it has loads of intangibles...but let's be honest, it ain't gonna happen.

Whoops!!! That was me above 8)

Get in the Ring.

I think you've misunderstood me on a number of issues.

Yes, I agree with you about the depth issue in the Middleweight devision, that is precisely why I think he's as ranked as highly as it is. Having said that there are still some fights for him in the devision. The three you mentioned, Allen, Mendoza and Taylor would be big steps up from McCraken/Cherifi and would be ideal fights. I would fancy Taylor to beat him confortably.

He's I agree Hopkins/Joppy aren't big punchers, and I didn't intend doing them a disserve - both are exceptional. I was just refering to the fact that Eastman chin (which you called granit) hadn't truly been tested.

There are a few fighters at Middleweight who could further assist Eastman's reputation - Holmes, Aaron Mitchell and that Swed who gave Simon a good fight are ALL alot better than Eastman best victories and would provide some test. It will show if Eastman deserves his high ranking or not.

However, this thread asked peoples interpretations of Eastman vs Calzaghe, now you have properly had the advantage of watching Eastman sparr. But I now believe that Eastman cannot pick it up. He's been with McCraken for a few fights and he's still a plodding fighter with poor footwork and handspeed. I always used to think "We haven't seen Eastman up in 5th gear yet", but now I think the pace he sets is his top gear. And its not good enough to win a world title.

I'm not saying McCraken will not be a find coach and but even with Eastman not taking the time outs, he's still to slow and he won't hurt Calzaghe.

The main point of my first thread is that if Eastman decides to move up, its not a certain that he'll be the No 2 domestic Supermiddle. With Reid, Cately, Starie (?) and Magee also in the mix. Should Eastman move up there'll be plenty of fringe world class fighters he could face close at home. And I think Starie especially has got the tools to beat him.

Basically, I don't think he's that good and but is fighting in this devision at the right time.

That's fair enough stu

I personally wouldn't consider a faded Holmes, an inexperienced Mendoza and especially Armand Kranjc better opponents that McCracken and Cherifi. Kranjc recently lost to Sergei Tatesovyan and is on a bad run of form, Mendoz brings no name value to the fight and Holmes is way past his best. Holmes would may be the best opponent out there for Howard at the moment, and that isn't saying much.

Taylor is an exceptional talent, but lets not go overbaord just yet. Jermain's people wouldn't touch Eastman with a barge pole.

You make a good point about many people thinking Eastman has this mysetry gear to step up to. That is a great point because we as fans, haven't yet seen this gear and therefore do not know if it exists. And you know the one way we'll find out? If he sets a huge fight, with McCracken in the corner, then I think we'd find out.
I personally think it is in there somewhere, he showed late on against Joppy, that if Eastman injects urgency into his work Joppy cannot live with him. Joppy may be a very good fighter but Eastman at his best beats him 9 times out of 10, and I'm sure of that.

Eastman - Calzaghe is a hard fight to pick. And your possibly right, maybe Calzaghe would be too busy for Eastman, but what I'm trying to say is...until Eastman gets a bigger fight at 160 we will not know if he can jump to the next plateau...I think he can, but so many have doubts.

I don't really want to see Howard up at super middle, but accept the fact that 160 is a dying division and Hopkins is stagnating it. He may have to move up to get big fights at this late stage in his career.
I personally think he'd ruin Starie, and Francis too (although I don't think Dean will fight again). Starie cannot live with Eastman in any department. And if he's scared to take the fight and mix it with a light hitter such as Ottke, he'll run all night from Eastman.

I think that Joe BEats Eastman quite easily wiht either a lopsided UD or late KO

Calzaghe wins 9 of the 12 rounds against Eastman in my opinion. Eastman is yet another British fighter who has wasted away his career, in Howard's case it's probably even more tragic than the likes of Calzaghe and Hatton because I doubt he's made much cash either, certainly not anywhere near what the premier SN cotton-wool wrapped guys have made anyway.

With his personality and uniqueness, Eastman is so marketable it's a real shame. The Americans I spoke with loved him too.

He should already be a vetran of at least 3 world title shots at middleweight.

I just don't see what Eastman would do to beat Calzaghe. I see him getting consistently outworked, not digging hard enough to take out Joe or even bother him remarkably.

No way Eastman beats Calzaghe. The same question I always ask is "Where could Howard succeed where Charles Brewer failed?" It's a pointless match. Eastman does not have quick enough hands or feet - end of story. His overall toughness will keep him in the fight for sure but he'll get outworked by a mile.

118-110 Calzaghe.

IF Eastman can maintain a decent workrate then he wins IMO no question, i don't think people realise just how good he actually is, he more than held his own against Joppy and poor corner work (as another poster mentioned) played just as big of a factor as anything else in his defeat. He has the skills, the physical strength and the power and appears to me to be a fighter who relishes the big occasion, he is in the comfort zone at his current level holding three belts and disbanding lower class opponents. If he moves up he can make the weight as he is a big Middleweight, as i said in another post Calzaghe leaks right hands and boy can Howard land with those! Just see Scott Dann and Hassine Cherifi for that. Can Calzaghe's chin take them? Prior to Byron Mitchell i would have said yes, afterwards no, Mitchell was a huge puncher though right? Not really, While on the rise Mitchell scored 15 KO's in 19 wins, sounds pretty violent right? No considering only three of those guys had winning records, in his 10 fights since when the level of opposition rose he scored only 3 KO's and one was against a blown up Light Middleweight in Julio Cesar Green. In other words if Mitchell can find holes in the defence of Calzaghe and hurt him as badly as he did then Eastman certainly can also. And if Calzaghe is hurt and rallies like he did against Mitchell do you see Howard taking the punches and getting stopped? No, i see him jumping on and finishing Calzaghe, Eastman SD12 Calzaghe IF he works hard enough and IF the judges are genuine enough to score the fight how they see it. And finally...this fight will never happen anywyays because of the Warren V Hennessy saga!

Steve I have to disagree with just about everything you said there.

I'm no big Calzaghe fan but c'mon, at 32 Howard Eastman is going to have to pull off some kind of miracle if he wants to even match the guys workrate let alone top it. He's had the same plodding (but effective at the right level) style his whole career.

Eastman "more than held his own against Joppy", yes well done Howard credit for that but he still lost a fair decision against a paper champ at 160.

He relishes the big occasion? He's had one truly big fight and he lost it because he wouldn't or couldn't work hard enough over 12 rounds. To me Howard Eastman appears to enter every fight in the same condition with the same level of motivation no matter who he's faced with or for what title belt.

JC Green might've been a blown up middle but certainly no light-middle.

Eastman a big middleweight? Did he look so big against Joppy? Not really. And when was the last time we heard anyone express concerns about weight making difficulties? I don't recall a single instance.

As for Mitchell IMO his one-punch power far exceeds that of Eastman who never sparks even his most over-matched opponents, just breaks them down gradually. You might be able to envisage Eastman "jumping all over a hurt Calzaghe and stopping him" and you're well entitled to your view but to me the chances of that happening are a big fat ZERO.

I'm afraid Eastman is in a no win situation in terms of becoming a true recognised world champ. At middleweight Hopkins would utterly school him and at 168 Calzaghe would completely out-speed and out-work him. Pity but that's life.

i doubt eastman would have a good work rate in this fight,

eastman falls asleep during fights, i think calzaghe would stop eastman in the middle rounds,

eastman in this fight just has a punchers chance for me,

Howard's not even in the same league as Calzaghe. I've a feeling Eastman will rue the day he didn't jump on William Joppy from the first round and put th epressure on him until his dying day. Joppy totally outboxed him IMO and was just worn out. It's alright saying that Howard through the fight away, but Joppy boxed exactly the right fight. He jabbed and moved and prevented the slower Eastman from getting a real foothold in the fight. He caught Howard hard enough to gain his respect and Eastman just trundled forward behind a tight guard without taking the kind of risk he needed to to turn the fight around and when he did.... it was too late.

Calzaghe would do a paint-job on Eastman and has a good enough chin to take any shots Eastman throws at him. He may even be able to stop Howard late on.

get in the ring wrote:Eastman all the way!!!

No way does Joe stop Howard...Howard has a granite chin and has no problem taking shots, especially from a guy like Calzaghe, who, although he throws a lot of shots doesn't sit down on his punches and shoot them straight as much as he could/should. Eastman is a bit like James Toney in that he can easily soak up punsihment and pressure and really break the heart of his opponent. I see this happening against Calzaghe, who will start quickly and will be the busier of the two...but will then realise he cannot hurt Eastman and he'll begin to fade down the stretch, and Eastman will grow in confidence as Calzaghe becomes more reserved a la Starie - Calzaghe...leaving Eastman to narrowly outpoint him on aggression down the stretch.


At least that's how I hope it would unfold

Joe is too big and powerful for Howard IMO

I base this purely on my own judgment, but Joe will control the speed of this fight and more or less dominate it.
Howard will be weary of Joe's attack and will be timid in coming forward.
Howard, controversially or not, lost to Willy Joppy...
The Willy Joppy that won't face Calzaghe purey on the fact that Joe is the Best Super Middle in the World and Joppy would get kayoed.

Overall I can never see this fight happening. Howard wants it, Hennessey wants it, fight fans want it.... But this contest don't generally appeal to Sports Network or for that matter, most of the general public...

This side of the border the names of Jones Jr, Hopkins... even Michalczewski appear in my South Wales Echo andd Wales on Sunday...
Big Names..... You go up to someone in Wales and ask who Howard Eastman is, 9/10 will say Howard who!

allegedly has been hyping up a Millenium Stadium clash for ages, trying to get tha elusive big name to come to Cardiff and fight 'the Pride of Wales'.

A fight with Howard for Joe is one step backwards, likewise a rematch with Robin Reid. Hes already established himself in the UK and now needs to crack the States, 'The Battersea Bomber' ain't the guy to do that unfortunately...

Still and intriging match up it would be...

I think we all overhyping just how good Calzaghe is here, fair enough he is good but he was badly wobbled by a guy who has not taken his power up in class with him, the stats don't lie (if anybody disbelieves them check them out) and Calzaghe was shaken badly. The guy ships way too many right hands, we only need to see the Eubank, Reid and Woodhall fights to see that, Calzaghe's workrate is overplayed too. Fair play he matched an ageing Charles Brewer for 12 rounds but fell asleep for periods against Starie (didn't we all), Thornberry and Reid. He's British and i want him to do well but he's eating Ottke's chewed meat for dinner at the moment and he really needs to step up in class and fight a decent unification or a big name to win me over.

steve689 wrote:I think we all overhyping just how good Calzaghe is here, fair enough he is good but he was badly wobbled by a guy who has not taken his power up in class with him, the stats don't lie (if anybody disbelieves them check them out) and Calzaghe was shaken badly. The guy ships way too many right hands, we only need to see the Eubank, Reid and Woodhall fights to see that, Calzaghe's workrate is overplayed too. Fair play he matched an ageing Charles Brewer for 12 rounds but fell asleep for periods against Starie (didn't we all), Thornberry and Reid. He's British and i want him to do well but he's eating Ottke's chewed meat for dinner at the moment and he really needs to step up in class and fight a decent unification or a big name to win me over.

I have to be honest here i agree with most of your posts Steve but i dont think anyones overhyping or overrating Calzaghe.Talk about him shipping right hands? Yes he does but doesnt he take them well ! Reid and Eubank are not light punchers by anyones standards.As for stepping up in class thats crap hes the number 1 in the world so his opponents step up to him not the other way.Decent unification? we all realise that FW cant give us that and IMO Calzaghe would beat Ottke and I cant see Eastman doing anything , i mean Joe would do Joppy in 2 rounds.

One thing that annoys me with Calzaghe is frustration, it's not his fault don't get me wrong as Warren must shoulder the blame for not delivering the fights he deserves. He would beat Joppy, walk through Ottke and give Hopkins a good battle so let's see him fight these guys, come on Frank give us a match to get excited about!