 Eastman and Duddy met on Tuesday ahead of Saturday's bout |
Howard Eastman insists that he is going to grab his last chance to get back into the world title picture by beating John Duddy in Belfast on Saturday. Eastman goes into the King's Hall contest, having lost the British title against Wayne Elcock in September.
Saturday's bout falls on Eastman's 37th birthday and the Guyana-born fighter is determined to celebrate by denting Duddy's own world title ambitions.
"John Duddy is going to be falling on Saturday," Eastman told BBC Sport.
The Gulf War veteran met Duddy for the second time on Tuesday and he acknowledged that he likes the Derry fighter.
"He's a cool guy. People must understand that boxers are nice people.
"We're here to perform for people. We're entertainers. We're here to do a job so we'll switch off from being nice and we get ugly and then (afterwards), we get nice again. That's boxing."
Eastman is hoping that victory could help land him a third world title fight after his controversial defeat by William Joppy in 2001 and loss against Bernard Hopkins in February 2005.
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The British middleweight talked a good fight in Tuesday's press conference and he even tried to get a few locals on his side by donning a Celtic FC cap at a Belfast hotel.
"I'm beginning to get the kind of feeling I had the time I fought Joppy but the result will be totally different this time.
"I'm looking forward to the fight and I'm here to put on a show for the people of this great nation."
For his part, Duddy made no attempt to downplay the importance of this bout to his future.
"I'm on the edge of breaking into the big time and this fight with Howard Eastman is going to firmly stamp that," Duddy told BBC Sport.
Duddy acknowledged that Eastman cuts an imposing physical figure as well as being a "warrior" but the unbeaten Derryman remains confident.
"Howard Eastman's coming here to put a big dent in my plans but I think I've done enough work with Mr (Don) Turner in North Carolina to ensure that he's not going to be able to achieve that."
Duddy's trainer Turner has worked with 20 former world champions including Evander Holyfield, Larry Holmes, Aaron Pryor and Mike McCallum.
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