BoxRec

Hopefully that'll be the end for Howard and he'll call it a day. He's had a good career but unfortunetely was slightly short of the world class. No reason for him to stay in the game, and if he does he'll only end up getting hurt.

Thats a great shame eastman always struck me as a good guy (if a little odd) Hope he isn't badly hurt.

Will have to go down as one of the best british fighters not to win a world title.

josh fg wrote:Thats a great shame eastman always struck me as a good guy (if a little odd) Hope he isn't badly hurt.

Will have to go down as one of the best british fighters not to win a world title.

Very true, will have to see the fight for myself, hope it's shown next Friday on channel 5's Fight of The Week.

Bad, bad loss for Eastman. If he'd lost via close decision or whatever the IBF could no doubt have used him again, but with - what appears to be - a pretty conclusive stoppage... well, he's fucked on the 'world' scene for now. Apparently he was stopped on his feet and complained about the stoppage (there's a shocker) but the reporters didn't get into a flap about it so it was probably just Howard's nature/fighting spirit. He's been about for a loooong time... up to him.

josh fg wrote:Thats a great shame eastman always struck me as a good guy (if a little odd) Hope he isn't badly hurt.

Will have to go down as one of the best british fighters not to win a world title.

I dont think he should, guys like Herol Graham, Dave Charnley, Brian Curvis and Kevin Finnegan were better fighters than Howard.

I'd rank Howard alongside someone like Billy Schwer.

Howard has always been a lethargic character but had ability, his best performance will probably be against Joppy which of course was a losing effort, effort being the operative word as had he put in a little more he would have won. Eastman showed versus Abraham that the sharpness isn't there anymore.

The most interesting thing to come out of this loss in my opinion is the continuing question marks over Arthur Abraham (at least for me anyway). He won a tight decision over Howard, of course Eastman could have been giving it one last big go before "the end" which subsequently came against Miranda. But given Abraham's recent fight with Shannan Taylor this opens new questions over the German in my eyes, was the Ikeke result a case of styles make fights and Abraham overwhelemed his man? It's all very interesting...well i think so anyway

Miranda proves he's for real;
TKOs Eastman in round seven!
By Steven Roche and Matt Cleary at ringside
IBF middleweight eliminator between Edison Miranda (26-0, 23 KOs) scored a seventh round TKO over Howard Eastman (40-4, 34 KOs) at the Seminole Hard Rock LIVE Arena, Hollywood, Florida, to become the mandatory challenger for IBF middleweight champion Arthur Abraham. After a slow start, things opened up in round three when both fighters landed bombs. Miranda rocked Eastman in round five with a big right hand. Eastman came back to stagger Miranda twice in round six. In round seven Miranda launched a non-stop barrage of punches, eventually trapping Eastman in a corner and standing him up with a big uppercut. Referee Brian Garry jumped in to stop the fight at 2:33 of the round. It was the first time Eastman had ever been stopped and the "Battersea Bomber" who seemed clear-headed complained about the stoppage.





Maybe a bit quick to stop it!

lvlarc_uk wrote:

josh fg wrote:Thats a great shame eastman always struck me as a good guy (if a little odd) Hope he isn't badly hurt.

Will have to go down as one of the best british fighters not to win a world title.

Very true, will have to see the fight for myself, hope it's shown next Friday on channel 5's Fight of The Week.

it was a rather premature stoppage by a terrible referee (who had been constantly warning miranda or petty or nonexixtent infractions)...but the stoppage only hastened the inevitable, since howard may have made it out of the 7th (with 30 seconds left) but probably wouldnt have lasted the 8th...

is espn2 FNF always delayed a week in UK or can those with satellite get it same night?

He needs to quit.

He's always had a good chin, so gettng KO'd is a sign to call it a day.

Same old Howard. No killer instinct in the guy. Had Miranda hurt at the end of round 6. Miranda kind of stiff legged it back to his corner with a little stumble. Howard came out for the 7th and didnt jump on him. The guy needs a little bit of Nigel Benns fire in him.

As Jim Watt would say....

"He needs to pouuut a laaattttle daaaavel intae his wark."

FloydD wrote:Same old Howard. No killer instinct in the guy. Had Miranda hurt at the end of round 6. Miranda kind of stiff legged it back to his corner with a little stumble. Howard came out for the 7th and didnt jump on him. The guy needs a little bit of Nigel Benns fire in him.

You're right, he didn't seem to take the oppurtunity - I think that Eastman's just that little bit too old now - gutted really as Eastman seems a great bloke and that was a very good fight to watch. I guess that his only option now would be British/Commonwealth?

I watched this on a ESPN2 copy I downloaded - I can't believe how they interviewed Harrison about 25 seconds into the begining of the round - poor coverage...

Seems it's time to say good-bye for Eastman, who I always liked - a tough competitive character who fell just short of making it on the world stage. His ex-coach once said Eastman couldn't cope with fighters who didn't permit him to impose his speed and rythm on them - there may be somthing to it.

I hope Howard does quit, he should have packed in after the Abraham fight which he wouldnt have lost a couple of years ago.
Howard is one of my fave British fighters of the last 10 years. I rate him highly, was definitely a world class operator a couple of years ago, and was unlucky to drop the decision to Joppy in their WBA title fight a few years ago. He gave Hopkins a decent fight but came up a bit short. He always had a good chin and should now call it a day

In reality Eastman is just not as good as everyone thought. His lofty world rankings were achieved by beating McCracken who was highly rated for his win over Lonnie Beasley he didn't really beat anyone else of note at world level. McCracken was not really a world class fighter IMO, nothing against McCracken he seems like a decent bloke but he was european level at best.

Time to call it a day for Eastman, thats three on the trot he has lost.

In fact a quick look at McCracken's record and you can see he has never really beaten anyone with an impressive record.

http://www.boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=008927

The ref was piss poor for this one as well. Miranda constantly pulled Howards head down, and the ref warned him at least oncein every round. Come on by the 7th take a point away. Alot of my fellow Americans like to think the refereeing in the States is so much more stringent. Definitely not the case.

I entirely agree about whoever here said Howard struggles against anyone who doesn't allow him to impose his pace.

A lot of people said he threw the fight away against Joppy, but the reality was, when Howard tried to stand and force the fight against Joppy, he was getting absolutely nailed. He got hit with 15 uppercuts in a single round at one point, and although not a hard puncher, Joppy was jolting his head back. This forced howard to fight off the back foot in spurts, and it was only when Joppy slowed he was able to get the breathing space to land the shots which hurt ?Joppy at the end.

Howard is a fringe level tough contender, who lacks the natural pace to fight a tough infight, and that unfortunately is all she wrote.

fornicate... a black day for british boxing. an icon, nay GOD, of the UK scene has been cruelly culled from contendership. For now.

Is it really time to call it a day though? How many times did Kirkland Laing get stopped? His chin wasnt all that but he could still come back & score upsets and get himself back in position. I agree though, Howard must be slipping a little.

Will this fight get showed on UK TV? When??

Oh yeah Eastman can still return to the UK, bump off Scott Dann & make a few good paydays defending his british/commonwelath titles & the odd shot ex-champ/ex-contender etc, pretty undemanding contests that will line his pockets & beef up his resume.

Id still like to see the Battersea Bomber trade off with Jermain T whos chin i think is untested.

Why does he need to beat Scott Dann, again?

For some easy dough-re-me, genius.

overhand_right wrote: Will this fight get showed on UK TV? When??

Sky Sports 1 tonight - 10pm

Totally agree with those saying Eastman is over-rated and would like to add I think he is the most over-rated British boxer of recent times.

Shirow wrote:

overhand_right wrote: Will this fight get showed on UK TV? When??

Sky Sports 1 tonight - 10pm

Wonder if they will show the full broadcast, soon find out...

Dont know why people say that was premature stoppage. I thought it was perfect timing.

Looked like Rob McCraken was eager to wave it off too.