![]() There were many aspects to the reversal of fortune in Klitschko's career. There are certain things that are comparable and one of them is life and the sport of boxing." We talked about boxing and we talked about life, because life is like boxing. "We actually talked more than we did pads work, making combinations or anything like that. Though Steward had a great reputation as a teacher, it was what he said as much as what he did that turned Klitschko's career around. Steward took over as Lewis' trainer after that bout and trained Lewis for the rest of his career, guiding him to a 16-1 record, exactly the same as he did for Klitschko. Instead, though, McCall clipped Lewis on the chin and knocked him out. It was to be a coronation of sorts for Lewis, a massive man who, much like Klitschko, had otherworldly skills. The bout was for the vacant WBC belt that rival Riddick Bowe had famously dumped in the trash can a few months earlier. 24, 1994, Steward cornered Oliver McCall, a talented but troubled heavyweight, in a heavyweight title fight against Lewis in London. The similarities between Klitschko and Lewis and Steward's work with each of them is eerie. He is laughing and enjoying himself and also looking forward to that fight. ![]() "He is not here, but we know his spirit is with us and around us. "He was a great, great friend and one of the geniuses in boxing," Klitschko said of Steward. But Steward never lost hope and ultimately not only got Klitschko untracked, but also turned him into a nearly unbeatable fighting machine. In a nasty, cutthroat business, Steward was almost universally loved for his sunny disposition, utter lack of ego and eagerness to help.Īlmost unbelievably, he lost his first fight under Steward when he seemed to wilt after just four rounds and was stopped in the fifth by Lamon Brewster on April 10, 2004. 25, breaking the collective heart of the boxing world. Steward died in a Chicago hospital on Oct. The early days, though, weren't so promising. Just as he had done a few years earlier with Lewis, Steward altered the course of Klitschko's career and made him the dominant heavyweight of his era. It turned out to be one of the great collaborations in heavyweight history. And he'd made an entire generation of fighters, of disparate styles and backgrounds, better than they had been before they'd worked with him. ![]() He'd built Tommy Hearns into one of the greatest welterweights who ever lived. Steward's reputation as an elite trainer had been cinched years previously. He'd spent weeks in the U.S., talking to and working out with coaches, looking for someone who could rescue his foundering career.įinally, his manager, Bernd Boente, reached out to Emanuel Steward. Klitschko fought uncertainly, without confidence, seemingly unsure of himself. He won a couple of tune-up fights after the loss to Sanders, but he wasn't reminding a soul of an all-time great. It was, though, to Klitschko, who'd lost his WBO heavyweight title to Sanders that night in a monumental upset. So, that one loss should have been no big thing. In boxing, a mistake against a crushing puncher like Sanders led to a very short night. In the NFL, a mistake might mean an 80-yard touchdown pass. ![]() That in and of itself was no big thing, as Sanders was one of the great punchers of his era and caught Klitschko clearly on the chin. He'd been knocked out in the second round by Corrie Sanders on March 8, 2003. And yet, as Klitschko was searching for a new coach in 2004, something was clearly wrong.
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