Sakima

Sakima Mullings, currently the Commonwealth Caribbean Zonal middleweight champion, leaves the island today for Guyana for a fight on Saturday against Howard Eastman for the World Boxing Council Caribbean Boxing Federation welterweight title.

Mullings, who is one of the most popular boxers in Jamaica, won the Commonwealth Zonal middleweight title on June 16, 2011 by scoring a fifth-round TKO victory over Winston Pompey from Guyana. He made one successful title defence, by defeating Devon Moncriffe on points last year.

Since that time, he has elected to fight as a welterweight, a division in which he says that he feels more comfortable. He now has an 11-1 record and the fight on Saturday, will be his first overseas assignment.

His opponent is a crafty 42-year-old veteran, who has a 46-11 win/loss record and has fought as a middleweight and light heavyweight. He even had a fight against Bernard Hopkins, the oldest fighter to win a world title. This was in 2005 for the WBA, WBC and IBF middleweight titles, but he lost by unanimous decision.

Eastman's record shows that he will take a lot of experience into the ring, and Mullings will therefore have to be wary going into the fight. One thing that stands out in Eastman's record, however, is that he lost his last five fights, and this should provide some incentive for Mullings, who says his aim is to stop Eastman and add his name to his record as a boxer he defeated.