![]() ![]() In all, Steward managed 31 world champions and worked with 40 fighters who had won major titles at some point in their careers. One of the last men to cultivate world champions from the ground up became one of the first prominent successes in what some now call the “hired gun” era. Even more amazing was that this quartet grew up within blocks of one another. He eventually was joined by Jimmy Paul (IBF lightweight), Milton McCrory (WBC welterweight) and brother Steve McCrory, who won gold at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles with Steward’s help. In August 1980, Thomas Hearns pulverized Pipino Cuevas in two rounds to capture the WBA welterweight title. It wouldn’t be the last time Steward’s strategic acumen would directly affect the course of a contest.įollowing Kenty’s surprising triumph, Steward’s successes at the highest levels accumulated with dizzying speed. Kenty, normally a long-range boxer, shocked everyone by taking the fight to Espana and battering him until he finally succumbed. On March 2, 1980, at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena, Hilmer Kenty, a heavy underdog, knocked out Ernesto Espana in nine rounds to win the Venezuelan’s WBA lightweight title. In March 1972, Steward left Detroit Edison to become a full-time trainer and eight years later had his first professional world champion. He guided his squad to the 1971 Detroit Golden Gloves team championship, the first of what would be many achievements on the safer side of the ropes. As was the case in his amateur career, Steward excelled in relatively short order. The sights and smells of the gym further stirred his already entrenched love of boxing, which, in turn, led to his accepting a $35-per-week position as a part-time trainer. One day Steward took his half-brother James to the Kronk Recreation Center. That was the biggest win of my life, probably.”Īlthough he was interested in becoming a professional boxer, rough financial straits forced him to take a full-time position as an electrician with Detroit Edison. ![]() I lost the first round then won the last two real big in order to pull it out. He was like Mike Tyson – knocking everyone out. “(I beat) a guy named Frank Glover, who was a big favorite to knock me out. “That was the greatest (moment),” Steward said in an interview with. He joined the gym’s amateur team and achieved extraordinary success by amassing a 94-3 record as well as winning the 1963 National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions in the bantamweight division. Shortly after the relocation he began visiting the Brewster Recreational Center, whose most famous alumni included Joe Louis and Eddie Futch. He moved with his mother, a seamstress, to Detroit at age 12. Va., and at age 8 he was given boxing gloves as a Christmas present, a gesture that set in motion the events that shaped the rest of his life. Steward was born July 4, 1944, in Bottom Creek, W. For the rest of us, the pain has only begun. ![]() Reports said Steward was surrounded by loved ones and suffered no pain at the time of his passing, and for that thanks are given. Steward had been hospitalized in Chicago since September and according to his family he had undergone a procedure to combat the effects of diverticulitis. Eastern Time on Thursday, October 25, 2012, the Hall of Fame trainer, manager and TV commentator died at age 68 following complications from recent surgery. But when that person is as beloved as Emanuel Steward, the intensity of that loss grows exponentially.Īt approximately 2:46 p.m. When that icon is one that possessed irreplaceable knowledge, the sense of loss is magnified. “Those guys loved him … Emanuel knew, with the deep personal bond, the learning curve goes up.Every time a boxing icon passes away, the unseen fabric that binds everyone who loves the sport ripples with sorrow. “If you had any personal difficulty with him, you couldn’t work with him, because you had to be in his life,” Lampley said. Steward was a Golden Gloves champion, but his family’s need for financial support led him to sacrifice a professional career for work as an electrical lineman.Īs a trainer, Steward presided over a “168-hours-a-week” program in which he’d often sleep in the same room and share meals with his fighters, then train, watch film and engage in “talking, talking, talking,” Lampley said. Steward moved to Detroit, where he worked on auto industry assembly lines as a teenager and trained as a fighter at the city’s Brewster Recreation Center, where former heavyweight champion Joe Louis worked out and legendary Eddie Futch trained.
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