HOWARD EASTMAN vs ANDREW LEWIS

In a curious meeting of veterans, former middleweight title challenger Howard Eastman meets former welter champion Andrew Lewis in a 12-rounder for the 160-pound championship of Guyana on Saturday night in Georgetown.

Eastman spent many years in London while Lewis was based in New York. Now their paths converge in the land of their birth, the only country in South America where English is the official language.

Their is no doubt that Eastman should be the favourite here. He has been fighting at middleweight for almost his whole career and has fought at a very high level — he gave Bernard Hopkins a lot more trouble than Kelly Pavlik managed to do.

Lewis, meanwhile, has a reputation as being a very “chinny” fighter — he was stopped by Ricardo Mayorga and Antonio Margarito and he has been wobbled in other fights, and he is the smaller man in Saturday’s contest.

Interestingly, though, Lewis gave his best performance in a long time in his last fight when he comfortably outpointed his Guyanese rival Denny Dalton, while Eastman struggled to win a majority decision over the same opponent.

Although both Eastman and Lewis are 37, Eastman has had many more fights. Lewis, despite his chin problem, seems to be the fresher fighter and I think he is probably quicker than Eastman. While Eastman seems the bigger, stronger man, Lewis has the sort of slick, southpaw style that could trouble his compatriot.

I have a sense that it might mean more to Lewis to win to win this fight than it does to Eastman, who can be a bit laid back and eccentric.

There is always a risk with Lewis that he could get hit on the chin and go out like a light, but I like his chances in this fight and feel that he can box his way to an upset decision win.