TO MANY sportsmen and women in Guyana, especially 2012 Sportsman of the Year Shivnarine Chanderpaul and his runner-up Winston Stoby, a multiple record holder in the local powerlifting fraternity, “age is just a number”.

This saying can best be used to describe the wily and experienced Howard ‘Battersea Bomber’ Eastman, who at 42 years old, is the lone Guyanese (living or deceased), to have won eight titles, while at the same time being the lone pugilist from the Land of Many Waters to be crowned undisputed Commonwealth middleweight champion on three occasions.
Eastman is set to face Jamaica’s Salima Mullings on April 20th for the World Boxing Council/Caribbean Boxing Federation (WBC/CABOFE) welterweight title, following the forced withdrawal of Mullings’ original opponent in Barbados’ Miguel ‘Hands of Stone’ Antoine on a Guyana Boxing Board of Control (GBBC) card called Firestorm.
If one is to look at Eastman’s record, they would see the impressive figures showing 46-11, with 37 of his victories coming within the distance, while he has suffered losses at the hands of William Joppy and Bernard Hopkins (when challenging for world titles) and a double defeat to Simeon ‘Candyman’ Hardy.
Early last year, Hardy knocked out a game Iwan Azore in the 9th stanza of their 12 round encounter to land the WBC/Caribbean Boxing Federation (CABOFE) welterweight title, earning himself a spot in the WBC Championship Cup.
However, the 26 year old Hardy has moved to the United States of America, where he is undergoing training under the watchful eyes of his manager Cameron Dunkin, who thought it wise to pull his charge from the much lucrative WBC Championship Cup.
While Hardy was looking forward to competing on the world stage with the aim of one day winning a world title, he hid his disappointment and followed the orders of his management team, thus allowing Antoine to step in and face Jamaica’s Salima Mullings for the WBC/CABOFE welterweight crown.
Antoine’s hiccups with CABOFE, forced that entity’s president Peter Abdool who also stewards the GBBC, to pull him from the title bout with Mullings, opening the way for Eastman, who according to Abdool, many promoters on the world stage still enquires about.
In an invited comment with Chronicle Sport, Eastman said he was excited about the fight and even more excited to be given the opportunity to fight at home in front of his Guyanese fans, for whom he promises to give of his best and come out victorious.
His accomplishments in the squared jungle certainly speaks for itself, for amongst his accomplishments are several titles, including British Boxing Board Southern Area middleweight, CBA middleweight, EBU European middleweight and Commonwealth middleweight titles, not to mention the national middleweight titles as well.
He lost the latter to Edmond DE Clou, while Hardy refused to take the challenge and face him for the national welterweight title in their return encounter, even though he went on to win that bout by a Majority Decision.
Such accolades does not include his world title bouts with Joppy and Hopkins, while he has never lost the British Empire middleweight title and even the fact that he fought at the Marriot in London five times and with the ongoing construction of the Marriot (Guyana), maybe, just maybe Guyanese can see Eastman in action for a world title here sometime.
However, of much interest to Eastman and Mullings is the fact that the GBBC is awaiting word from the World Boxing Association (WBA), who was contacted for approval of the two meeting for the WBA/FEDCARIBE welterweight title, in addition to the WBC/CABOFE title in the same weight category.
Even the GBBC matchmaker and long serving referee Eon Jardine is balking at the idea of seeing Eastman challenge Mullings next month.
“I don’t think Howard is over the hill at all. When I look at him fight Hardy on both occasions, he still displays the ring craft that brought him his 46 victories in 57 professional bouts and while many touted Hardy to pout him away in the second encounter, he was the one giving Hardy a boxing lesson, even though he lost the bout.
I hope Mullings is preparing intensely for this bout as we all know Howard is no walkover and certainly I feel he will have a point to prove when it comes to fight night, especially knowing there is a place in the WBC Championship Cup up for grabs,” stated Jardine.
According to Jardine, Eastman wore a broad smile on his face, when he was told that his third opponent in the WBC Championship Cup would be none other than England’s very own Amir Khan, a smile he refused to give any explanation for.
All that in mind and with the above information being given, the question remains the same, ‘Does Howard ‘Battersea Bomber’ Eastman has what it takes to claim two more titles in his career?” That will be answered on 20th April at the Princess Hotel, when certainly a Firestorm will take place.
Other fights on the card pits Syria’s Mahmoud ‘The Extractor’ Loul who made an impressive debut on last month’s ‘Night of Champions 11’, with a second round TKO victory over Patrick Boston, taking on Derick Richmond of Berbice in a four-round super middleweight contest.

Elton ‘The Bully’ Dharry will also be back in action, after lacing up his gloves for a battle with Jamaica’s Rudolph Hedge last month, doing so this time for the vacant national bantamweight crown with Hewley Robertson over 12 rounds.

And in another title fight, Mark Austin meets Gladwin Dorway for the national junior middleweight crown, while there will be two amateur bouts involving two females and the crowd-puller Nandkumar Singh who will face an opponent yet to be named.

The professional pugilists will converge on the offices of Abdool and Abdool Insurance tomorrow afternoon, to affix their signatures to their respective contracts, before they head to their camp and commence preparatory work.