MIRANDA – THE NEW DURAN?

EDISON MIRANDA “conjured up images of a young Roberto Duran, so fast and explosive were his punches” en route to effectively ending Howard Eastman’s career at world level.

Eastman showed flashes of what made him such a force in the middleweight division, badly hurting Miranda in the sixth, but the Colombian rallied in the next, forcing the referee to stop the bout at 2-33 of the seventh.

It was the third consecutive loss for the Robert Mccracken-trained Eastman following points defeats to Bernard Hopkins and Arthur Abraham.

Eastman briefly re-established himself as a domestic force – winning the British and Commonwealth 160lb titles – before relocating to his native Guyana, and losing seven of his last 14 outings. His final fight was in 2014.