Briton Howard Eastman last night knocked out his opponent, Richard Williams, in the final round of their bout to recover the British title.
The “Battersea Bomber” ended his three-fight losing run when he put Williams onto the canvas with only 54 seconds of the fight remaining. At York Hall all three of the judges had Eastman ahead at the time and scored the bout 109-101, 108-102 and 107-103. 36-year-old Eastman, who gave up the British title in 2003, is now hoping for a third chance to become the middleweight world champion.
Eastman the 35-year-old former Commonwealth and IBO light-middleweight champion Williams have been mates for roughly 20 years and he said: “It’s extremely difficult to fight a friend, but we are all old school here. I’m glad that Richard is okay. We got the win we came for. I was never negative; he made me fight like that. I was just pacing myself, and the difference between us was just my experience.”
Williams himself said: “I felt good, and my punches were flowing, but Howard has fought in much higher class than me, and it showed in the end. It’s my first ever fight anywhere near Howard’s level. A lot of the time I enjoyed it, but I never saw that punch coming at the end.” I think that it is great that boxers can clash inside of the ring and still be friends outside of it; it brings integrity to the sport and I think it is much better like this instead of the likes of Harrison and Williams. I also have great respect for Eastman making his determined comeback and I wish him the best of luck even though it will be incredibly difficult to re-fulfil his dreams.
Please leave your thoughts on Eastman’s comeback as well as his great friendship with his opponent Richard Williams at the bottom of the page.
