It's possible to be a loser and a winner. I have no doubt that Edruardo (sp?) will still get some form of look-in if there's a middleweight championship league.

But 2005 looks like the year Hopkins will either retire/move up to Light-Heavy, leaving it wide open. Somehow I get the feeling that Howard will be left out in the cold, effectively leaving him with nowhere to go as he's cleaned out the European level.

I think the biggest winner on Saturday looks to be Witter. Sure, Hopkins got his 20th and Taylor moved further up the rankings, but this guy went from nobody to somebody in a night.

Start a wittier thread or whatever but quit talking about Eastman...the man had a shot and did not sell out-**** he was predicting a 5th round ko and he didn't throw enough punches to get you or I out of there.

ENOUGH ABOUT EASTMAN

This fight has to be the most talked about fight of the year after it was over..

This fight has to be the most talked about fight of the year after it was over..

Yep.

Boxing has always been an ethnic-oriented sport, and when you get a guy from Battersea, England vs a Philidelphia-bred legend, and it's not only the legend's 20th defense, but a battle between continents, in some people's eyes. Similar to Cooney-Holmes, Golata-Bowe, etc.

In this case their guy gets so terribly outpointed that he makes the entire circuit over there look bad, is why theres a lot of controversy surrounding it.

Still, Eastman is a good fighter, and if Hopkins moves up to bigger things he could win a title at middleweight. In the mean time Eastman is a could opponent for the Wright / Tito winner. He did something that Tito couldn`t do and thats go the distance with Hopkins, he also managed to win one or two roundsagainst Hop, something Tito was incapable of accomplishing.
Eastman is still a live middleweight and the loss to Hopkins shouldn`t detract from that!

fight sturm eastman

Sturm Vs Eastman wouldn`t be a bad fight actually and the winner should be right in line for a title fight!

Start a wittier thread or whatever but quit talking about Eastman...the man had a shot and did not sell out-**** he was predicting a 5th round ko and he didn't throw enough punches to get you or I out of there.

ENOUGH ABOUT EASTMANSorry, but this is bollocks - regardless of what happened Saturday night there SHOULD be an Eastman thread on here.

Like it or not, the guy is The Ring's top-ranked middleweight, second only to Hopkins. And whether or not his size was a factor, he did better against Hopkins than, say, Tito or DLH.

I'm not after a Hopkins-flavoured debate, that's for other threads. All I'm saying is that we should at least TALK about the guy who's a top three rated man in his division, as per The Ring.

Whas to talk about? He lost badly. His last two times on American soil have not been kind to Howard. he should take a tuneup bout in a couple of months then go after Sturm later in the year

or eastman - tito

So his pro career is non-existent and not of interest if it doesn't take place in America?

Sorry, but this is bollocks - regardless of what happened Saturday night there SHOULD be an Eastman thread on here.

Like it or not, the guy is The Ring's top-ranked middleweight, second only to Hopkins. And whether or not his size was a factor, he did better against Hopkins than, say, Tito or DLH.

I'm not after a Hopkins-flavoured debate, that's for other threads. All I'm saying is that we should at least TALK about the guy who's a top three rated man in his division, as per The Ring.

Put Eastman in with Jermain Taylor.