– retains national middleweight title; Frank clinical in disposing of Pompey
Former European middleweight champion Howard `Battersea Bomber’ Eastman retained his national middleweight title when he recorded a split decision over Andrew ‘Six head’ Lewis while overseas-based Guyanese Raul Frank stopped Winston Pompey in the fifth round on the `Perfect Storm’ fight card held at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, Saturday night.
Howard Eastman catches Andrew `Sixhead’ Lewis with a right…. and Lewis goes down before taking the standing eight count.(Lawrence Fanfair photos).
The two boxers entered the ring to rapturous applause from their supporters and His Excellency President Bharat Jagdeo who was in attendance.
From the opening bell it was clear that Lewis, who became Guyana’s first world champion in 2001 when he defeated American James Page via a TKO in the seventh round, intended to back his pre-fight boast and come away with a victory.
The two stalked each other for two rounds with Lewis connecting with some clean body shots whilst Eastman jabbed away at this opponent’s head which brought the crowd to its feet.
A chant of “Eastman, Eastman” erupted when Dr. Max Hanoman was called in to inspect a cut on the right eyebrow of Lewis.
However, Dr. Hanoman indicated to referee Andrew Thorne that the fighter could continue much to the pleasure of the spectators who had shouted…”Don’t stop the fight…” during the examination.
From then on it was punches galore from both pugilists.
Lewis was knocked down in the eighth round by Eastman as he attempted to evade a barrage of punches.
He survived the standing eight count by the referee and fought back with a flurry of punches of his own to end the round.
Not much followed after that even though Eastman slipped after being hit by a Lewis combination and at the end of 12 rounds both fighters raised one hand in anticipation of a victory.
But the ringside judges Bernard Dos Santos, Carlton Hopkinson and Clairmonte De Souza ruled in favour of a split decision for Eastman with scores of 115-110 and 113-112 for Eastman and 114-111 for Lewis.
Eastman had retained his national middleweight title.
In an invited comment, Eastman told Stabroek Sports that he wanted to finish Lewis off in two rounds but was advised by his wife to take his time and teach Lewis a lesson.
“He is no match for me. I wanted to close it off in two rounds but my wife told me to take my time and teach him a lesson.
“He never hurt me during the fight even though he surprised me by going the distance. But I am hurt as I did not get to finish him off even though I came away the victor.”
Quizzed whether he would give Lewis a rematch, Eastman readily answered in the positive adding that he would give a rematch to any opponent he had defeated before.
“Anybody whom I have fought and defeated and wants to have another chance, I am more than willing to grant them as they will only end up the same way they did before, on the losing end.
I have no hesitation in fighting any fighter that is placed in front of me at this point and time in my career, even Raul Frank,” he said.
The Frank/Pompey matchup was a one-sided affair after the first round during which the experienced Frank used it to feel out and size up his opponent.
Pompey showed that he was not intimidated by Frank when he let loose some combinations before suffering a cut over his right eye from Frank’s glove.
He also lost his mouth-piece during round three, clearly won by Frank who weathered all Pompey threw at him whilst responding with some body shots of his own, beating away at Pompey’s mid section as if he owned it.
After seeing their charge survive rounds three and four during which time he endured some more body shots (upper cuts along with the occasional jabs) from Frank, Pompey’s corner thought it best not to let their pugilist face more onslaught in the fifth and duly notified the referee, handing Frank the fight by way of knock out after four rounds.
Earlier, Leon ‘Hurry Up’ Moore and Sharon Warde had set the tone for the night’s proceedings with victories over Cecil Smith and Veronica Blackman respectively.
Moore’s victory came by way of a stoppage after Smith suffered a cut to his eyebrow which required five stitches whilst Warde had a unanimous decision over Blackman.
Both fights were catch weight bouts.
In the third bout of the evening, Elton ‘The Real Coolie Bully’ Dharry taught Orlan ‘Pocket Rocket’ Rogers a boxing lesson en-route to a unanimous decision in their six round encounters which had boxing fans who turned out in small numbers, shouting from the first bell.
Rogers was the shorter of the two and seemed bent on scoring a one punch knockout over his opponent who resides overseas.
But Dharry would have nothing of the sort as he utilized his jabs to good effect followed by the occasional one/two combination to keep his opponent at bay.
In fact, Rogers was knocked down on three occasions in three consecutives rounds (3rd, 4th and 5th) and was saved on all three occasions by the bell.
In the final round he fought valiantly as he kept looking for his miracle punch, but at the end, such was not to be as Dharry maintained his status as ‘The Real Coolie Bully.’
