BritishBoxing.net, UK
July 21 2005

Eastman edged out in Germany
by Michael Weber
Jul 20th 2005

Our German correspondent Michael Weber gives us all the lowdown on
Howard Eastman’s controversial defeat last Saturday at the hands of
Arthur Abraham…

Howard Eastman weighed in at 72.1 kg and Arthur Abraham, (WBA
Intercontinental title) the champion, at 72.2 kg. Both were looking
very impressive and well prepared for a fight between perhaps two
best European middleweights of the moment.

Surprising all spectators, Arthur Abraham came out very defensively in
the first round. Howard Eastman jabbed and scored with his straight
left. Abraham was very inactive. So the first round went to the
Battersea Bomber. In the second round, Abraham showed a little more
but could only land one hard right shot. Howard was scoring again
with his jab and so the second round could be also given to the
British challenger.

The crowd was very disappointed because Arthur didn’t show his hard
punches and activity as he usually does. But it changed from the
third round on. Uli Wegener, Arthur’s coach, yelled to him in order
to do more. And he did. From now on Abraham was the more active
fighter. He could land more and more combinations that were finding
their aim of Eastman’s head, especially his hard right. Eastman was
backpedalling. So Arthur won rounds three and four and the fight was
close again.

In the fifth round Howard was more active as in the last rounds. He
was landing his jab and scoring with right body blows. But Abraham
always did more. He was hitting harder and could score with thes heavy
punches to the head. This is the reason why this round was given to
the titleholder who was now one round in front.

>>From the sixth round on, Eastman started to hold Abraham more and
more but he couldn’t prevent him from scoring with hard punches to
the head. Eastman was too inactive in this round and so it went to
Arthur, who was now two rounds ahead.

In the next two rounds the Battersea Bomber showed his best boxing.
He scored a lot with his jab and with hard body shots and controled
the fight though the Armenian landed some hard rights. It seemed that
Howard had an iron head and would not get knocked out in this fight.
He showed good defensive work, especially in the eighth round when a
lot of punches of Abraham only landed on Howard’s gloves. After winning
rounds seven and eight, Howard was able to make the fight close again.

Spectators and some experts now thought that the experienced Brit
would take over the fight. But they were all wrong. Arthur Abraham
came out to explode in the ninth round. Howard had no means to stop
the hard punching Armenian who scored as he wanted, especially his
hard right landing on Eastman’s head. He was not far away from getting
knocked down and showed a monster chin.

>>From this round on there was only one boxer who dominated the fight
and scored with hard and exact punches: Arthur Abraham. Eastman only
tried to hold in order to prevent Abraham from hitting. But he also
lost condition and power with this tactic. In the tenth and twelfth
rounds there were again situations where Abraham was not far away from
a knock down. He was the one who dominated the fight and by far the
man with more power. This reporter’s score was a 116-112 for Arthur
Abraham because of winning the last rounds clearly.

Al three judges saw Abraham winning (115-113, 116-112 and 119-110),
making him still WBA Intercontinental champion. (As if that means
anything – ed.) More important than this title is that he showed that
he is not just a young and wild knockout artist but can be a more
measured performer and is certainly one of the best in this division.
And at the age of 25 the future is wide open.

The biggest surprise were the statemets of Howard Eastman and his
coach, Kofi Asanti after the fight and in the press conference
later on:

“I definetely didn’t lose the fight. I was robbed in Germany as an
amateur and I was robbed tonight again! What’s wrong with you guys?
What is fair is fair.

“I wanted to come to show my skills. I had a short preparation time.
Abraham is very raw and strong. But I was surprised that he won. He
is not in my league and I doubt the decision. I want a rematch in
London. I also won vs Joppy and Hopkins and also didn’t get the
decisions.”

Kofi Asanti stated:”This is a disgrace to boxing. Howard was two or
three rounds in front. Abraham is no world class boxer.”

Arthur Abrahams words were: “It was a hard fight but I showed that
I’m ready to go for higher aims. Howard is very experienced but I got
him with my tactics. He lost against one of the best in the division
and I’m proud that I won versus one of the best.”