By Elliott Worsell

22.07 - Europe’s premier Middleweight, Battersea’s Howard Eastman 37-1 (33 KO’s), makes a voluntary defence of his European Middleweight title at the Norwich Sports Village on Friday night (July 25). In the opposite corner is the rugged, experienced Frenchman and former WBC Middleweight champion of the world Hassine Cherifi 34-7-1 (20 KO’s).

If the latest ‘Ring Magazine’ rankings are anything to go by, the importance of this match up extends outside of Europe, and will have a big say on the Middleweight division worldwide. Eastman is ranked at number 2 by the Independent ranking system, and the respected Cherifi finds himself at number 6.

Cherifi, who is coming off the back of two 10 round points decisions in his native homeland against ex Eastman foe Christophe Tendil for the French Middleweight crown, and Didier Nkuku Mupeko in his first defence, represents the biggest test Eastman will have faced since dropping a disputed 12 round points decision against William Joppy for the WBA 160 lb belt in Vegas nearly two years ago.

Previous to those two solid victories (Tendil and Muperko), the man who’s eccentricity is a near match for the extroverted Eastman, lasted into the 4th round of his fight with the great Puerto Rican gunslinger Felix ‘Tito’ Trinidad, ‘Tito’s first fight since being sent back to elementary school by Undisputed Middleweight champion Bernard Hopkins.

Cherifi was seen as an ideal opponent for Trinidad to get his name back in lights and to send out a statement to the rest of the Middleweight division, and it did just that. The Frenchman took his lumps, getting off the canvas numerous times en route to being stopped on his feet under a furious barrage from the heavy handed Trinidad in the 4th.

This was not the first time the balding Cherifi had mixed in world class however. After toying with the French Middleweight title for a good couple of years, beating fellow contender Erland Betare (KO 2) and also drawing with the light punching stylist, Cherifi moved onto European class, winning the illustrious title from Alexander Zaitsev in October 96’, and defending it a further two times. This set Hassine up nicely for his big chance. The chance all boxers crave. A shot at the world title…

The downside from Cherifi’s point of view? The shot came up at Super Middleweight, by no means his natural weight class. Chuck into the equation, solid young, articulate, hard hitting WBC champion Robin Reid, and you have a mixture for disaster. Make no doubt about it though, Cherifi pushed the ‘Grim Reaper’ all the way and narrowly missed out on getting the decision in Widnes, England. Reid won on a close split decision, but couldn’t really hurt the durable Frenchman throughout the contest.

Cherifi’s commendable and courageous performance against Reid was rewarded soon after with another world title shot. A WBC tilt against Middleweight kingpin Keith Holmes. This was more like it for Cherifi, home sweet home for the Frenchman, back in his natural 160 lb weight class. And boy was the difference clear, Cherifi, despite being floored in the 9th round, wrestled the title from Holmes in Paris, winning a competitive unanimous decision.

Holmes was not a happy man, and on April 24 1999 managed to get Cherifi back in the ring to try and win back his old belt. And win it he did, fighting in the safer confinements of Washington DC, Homes comprehensively stopped Cherifi in seven punishing rounds.

Cherifi, like fine wine keeps getting his chances though, and more importantly keeps producing the goods and contributing to hard, competitive contests.

Two more world middleweight title shots came his way in the space of a year, firstly for the WBA bauble against Eastman conqueror William Joppy, and secondly a shot at the WBO belt against the talented Namibian Harry Simon. Again, even in defeat the strong Frenchman proved his toughness and durability by extending the gifted champions to the very last bell, losing unanimous decisions to both.

Without doubt Cherifi has experience. Without doubt Cherifi is durable and sturdy. Without doubt Cherifi will not be overawed by the big occasion, but the big question is what does this 35 year old ex world champion have left in the tank? And is there enough left to trouble the excellent former triple champion (British, Commonwealth and European) Howard Eastman?

Eastman comes into this fight with a renewed vigour and work ethic, injected into his game by long time friend and now successful trainer Robert McCracken. The two shared a ring with each other in April 2001 (Eastman won via 10th round TKO) and therefore there is undoubted respect and understanding between the two. This has been evident in the second phase of the ‘Battersea Bomber’s career since his bitter defeat to Joppy in Vegas.

The controversial WBA world title defeat to Joppy in Las Vegas took a lot out of Howard, he needed a break, he needed a rethink, he needed a change.

A change from promotional camps was signified in October 2002, when he fought Charden Ansoula on promising promoter Mick Hennesey’s ‘Real Class’ card. A partnership was born, after long periods of inactivity under US promoter Don King, Eastman had found a young, hungry promoter intent on keeping Eastman active, and most importantly, winning.

Eastman would continue to mark time waiting for another duly deserved big title shot under Hennesey’s successful banner; wins against Hussain Osman, Gary Beardsley, Christophe Tendil and most recently a third round stoppage of Scott Dann have pretty much told us what we already know about Howard. This guy is for real, and needs to be tested in big fights, where his skills and ability will be tested to the maximum.

The time could come on July 25. Without doubt Cherifi represents a step up in class from anything Eastman has faced post-Joppy and under Hennessey promotions, and an impressive performance and result will send shockwaves down the Middleweight division that the ‘Battersea Bomber’ is ready for action again, and is ready to fry the proverbial bigger fish.

Although Cherifi is not expected to upset the marauding Eastman, a win over the Frenchman is certainly a win worth having.

The 32 year old Eastman has aspirations of fighting the elite Middleweights such as Undisputed Middleweight emperor Bernard Hopkins, and WBA titlist the aforementioned William Joppy. To get his car on track for these types of fights, Eastman needs to fill it up on gas first. And this is exactly what the Eastman – Cherifi match up represents. The preparation has been done, gone are the Beardsley’s and Dann’s of this world; now the real work begins; a 12 round European title defence against an ex world champion, the first fight since the Joppy defeat that will make the US audience sit up and take note of Eastman’s ability and achievements rather than just noticing him for his funny blonde beard. This is crunch time for the naturally gifted Eastman, and should he slip up against Cherifi he can kiss his chance of landing a shot at the in demand Hopkins goodbye.

A convincing and impressive performance is needed from Howard, and I believe we will get one. Following on from his patchy display against Scott Dann where he struggled to work out the Plymouth southpaw for a couple of rounds, it is clearly evident Eastman needs and relishes a test. He raises his game accordingly, and when put in with a top contender he usually delivers the goods. Against McCracken he was dazzling, against Joppy he was beautiful to watch in cameos, and with a new team around him and renewed motivation, expect to see the best Howard Eastman yet under the guidance of Hennesey and McCracken.

I feel although durable, Cherifi is there for the taking, at 35 years of age, how much longer can he keep going at elite level? Eastman is heavy handed and carries enough pop to stop Cherifi at this late stage in his career, probably in the latter rounds. Cherifi has a reputation of going the distance with great technical fighters, and getting stopped against guys who can punch and are more aggressive. Trinidad achieved Cherifi’s bald scalp in 4 explosive rounds, Eastman will do well to achieve similar success, he has a great KO ratio (33 stoppages in 37) but does not have the dynamic, sledge hammer power of the great Trinidad.

Eastman tends to wear opponents down by accumulation rather than blow them out with one shot. Therefore I expect to see a lean, mean, trim Eastman, fit and ready for his biggest test since the contentious Joppy defeat in Vegas. I expect him to try and establish his jab early on and to bring in the bigger weapons as the fight progresses, namely his trademark right uppercut which still has William Joppy’s imprint left on it due to the regularity in which he tagged Joppy with it two years ago in Vegas.

Cherifi will most likely start out cautious, he knows he’s in the others guys home, and he’ll try and be cute with his boxing. He’ll nip and tuck, try and mess Howard around, use his world championship level experience to jot up points. Try and outwork the usually slow starting Eastman, to build up an early points lead. Howard will need to jump on the Frenchman at some time, preferable early, or connect with a telling blow to disconnect any kind of rhythm the Frenchman might build up. French fighters are notorious ‘rhythm fighters’ who like to settle down and ‘fiddle’ there way past opponents with the lowest form of risk. Howard is a big Middleweight, and I believe his superiority in strength and most tellingly punch power will be enough to see off a game but limited Cherifi in seven or eight one sided rounds.

A win of this magnitude and in this kind of style would set Howard up nicely for a shot at either of the two fighters perceived to be above him in the Middleweight world rankings, messrs Hopkins and Joppy.
A rematch with Joppy is a fight anyone who’s anyone in British boxing wants to see. British fight fans knew which fighter had the better quality in that fight, and if only Howard had been as inspired and eager to please as he is now under trainer Rob McCracken, we could well have had a WBA Middleweight world champion back then.

One spanner in the works (for a Eastman – Joppy rematch) is the proposed Hopkins – Joppy fight that has been talked about for seemingly centuries now. Both men are keen to be proclaimed the Undisputed champion and the kingpin of the division, but I believe they should forget Howard Eastman at their peril.
We’ve already seen how he equipped himself against the slick and skilful Joppy in Las Vegas, many thought he did enough to eek out a close decision. We all saw the reaction of the US fight fans after the final bell, they all had their favourite and it was the ‘Birdman from Battersea’.

Is Hopkins courageous and hungry enough at 38 years of age and with his legacy already confirmed, to take on an enthusiastic, talented challenger who many believe has the style and ‘game’ to beat Hopkins and send him into early retirement? This remains to be seen, but make no bones about it, Howard Eastman wants Bernard Hopkins and he wants him ASAP.

Eastman – Cherifi is a pebble in the long winding path up to Hopkins, and assuming Eastman performs to his capabilities and pulls out the win on July 25, possible future options include a mandatory defence against Spanish challenger Jorge Sendra, a big domestic dust up with fellow Londoner Wayne Alexander or the two previously mentioned ‘big ones’.

Be warned though, talk is talk, and as we saw a couple of weeks ago when Scottish featherweight hope Scott Harrison was soundly defeated by the ageing but experienced Manuel Medina, so called ‘fine wine’ fighters have a lot of bottle and just love upsetting the applecart.