LOS ANGELES – Some condemned men have been known to turn gray overnight. Howard Eastman need not be concerned about this happening to him.
He has been gray for years, and he's only 34.
The so-called "Battersea Bomber" from Great Britain is the designated sacrifice at Staples Center this evening for a fight Golden Boy Promotions has titled "Execution Day" – the bid by Bernard Hopkins, "the Executioner," to achieve a 20th middleweight title defense.
Only Joe Louis, with 25 defenses, and Ricardo Lopez, with 24, made more.
Hopkins, 40, has not lost a fight in 11 years, eight months and 26 days, or since he was outpointed by Roy Jones Jr. on May 23, 1993, and he is not expected to lose this one. In Las Vegas, he is a 6-1 favorite.
First bout is at 4:15 p.m., with HBO's television programming beginning at 6:45.
It is only the second U.S. appearance for Eastman (40-1, 34 KOs), a native of New Amsterdam, Guyana. In the first, he lost a unanimous decision to William Joppy at Las Vegas in November 2001, but he had Joppy down in the bout's final seconds.
In December 2003, Hopkins handily outpointed Joppy, winning 119-109 on two scorecards and 118-109 on a third. Despite this, Eastman is predicting he will stop the Philadelphian in five rounds.
"Hopkins has never faced anyone with the power I can unleash," Eastman said. "I can give a punch and I can take a punch. I am not easy to hit, and I can take any power punch he can hit me with."
As promoter Bob Arum, who is not associated with this event, noted, making boasts of this sort before engaging Hopkins is not recommended.
"Hopkins has come from a bad life in Philadelphia," Arum said. "One thing you don't do with a man like this is engage in any bull."
Hopkins served 5½ years in a Pennsylvania prison for what he terms "strong-armed robbery" before beginning his boxing career.
Eastman prepared in Florida for five weeks before coming here. "It was good to be training in the States, in Hopkins' back yard," he said. "Why not get used to his back yard before I beat him up in it?"
He said his training has gone better than it did before his loss to Joppy. "A lot happened before the Joppy fight, but I definitely will not make the same mistakes again," he said.
While Hopkins claimed the WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO middleweight championships with the paralyzing left hook to the liver with which he stopped Oscar De La Hoya in the ninth round in his most recent appearance, only the WBC crown is at stake tonight. "Everything is feeling great," the champion said. "I'm mentally and physically ready for this fight."
A man who is mindful of what his place is going to be in boxing history, Hopkins places a high value on being able to make 20 defenses. It was the first thing he mentioned after felling De La Hoya with that shot to the liver.
To that point, though, Hopkins had not been particularly impressive. He came in at 156 pounds in order, he would explain, to be able to demonstrate that he could outbox his opponent. Until he got across his climactic punch, he had spent the evening largely circling. De La Hoya was ahead on one judge's card when Hopkins reached him with the punch that left him writhing near the ropes.
Also on tonight's card is rising middleweight Jermaine Taylor (22-0, 16 KOs), a possible future Hopkins opponent. Taylor is down for a scheduled 10-rounder against Daniel Edouard (16-02, 9 KOs).
Pechanga bills bout
Unbeaten Rocky Juarez (22-0, 15 KOs), a Houston featherweight who is pushing toward prominence in his division, is to oppose Juan "Ranchero" Carlos of Juarez, Mexico (34-7, 14 KOs), in a scheduled 10-rounder at the Pechanga Resort & Casino on March 4. Also on the card is a scheduled 10-round bantamweight bout between Jorge Lacierva of Atlanta (26-5-5, 18 KOs) and Clarence Vinson of Washington, D.C. (14-2, 6 KOs).
It is the second bout at Pechanga for Juarez, who stopped David Murillo in the opening round of his earlier appearance there. Juarez knocked out Guty Espadas of Mexico, a former featherweight contender, in the second round of his most recent bout in December.
