RIP Emanuel Steward - Legendary Boxing Trainer

[Buzz Killington]

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Emanuel Steward, famed boxing trainer, dies at 68 - ESPN



Emanuel Steward, revered as one of the best trainers in boxing history and whose Kronk Gym symbolized Detroit's gritty, blue-collar boxing scene and produced numerous world champions, died on Thursday after a short illness. He was 68.
Steward, who also managed many of the fighters he trained, worked with more than two dozen champions during his decades-long career. A younger generation of boxing fans knew him as an expert analyst on HBO's boxing telecasts.

Victoria Kirton, Steward's executive assistant, told the Associated Press that Steward died in a Chicago hospital on Thursday afternoon.

Often called the Godfather of Detroit boxing, Steward was a beloved figure because of his outgoing personality, seemingly endless energy to talk about boxing with anyone who would approach him and dedication to his fighters. As a cornerman, he commanded respect because of his strategic genius and for having the knack to say the right thing at the right time in the corner during the heat of battle.
Fighters also loved him for his generosity and for the father-figure role he often played in their lives. Training fighters was not just a job for Steward. He often took fighters in to live with him in his Detroit home, training them by day and parenting them by night.
Steward was most closely identified with his work with three superstar fighters: multi-divisional world champion Thomas Hearns, who was with Steward from the beginning, former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis and reigning heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.
Steward kept his usual busy schedule through the summer, training middleweight contender Andy Lee -- who lived with Steward -- for his loss to Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. on June 16 and Klitschko for his title-retaining sixth-round knockout win against Tony Thompson in their July 7 rematch. But he had been hospitalized since September, causing him to miss two HBO broadcasts, and underwent surgery. His sister, Diane Steward Jones, said the surgery was for the stomach disorder diverticulitis, although many others who knew Steward said it was for advanced cancer.

[kingduo]

RIP Emanuel Steward