Legendary trainer Emanuel Steward this week on “In This Corner!” June 16, 2004 By James Smith a.k.a. “Smitty”

There’s only one person who really shares the highs and lows, the peaks and valleys of a prizefighter’s career. That person would be the fighter’s head trainer. And I cannot think of too many that have shared more pugilistic success and experienced more drama than this week’s guest on “In This Corner”, Emanuel Steward.

Known as the head of the famed Kronk gym in the Motor City Detroit Michigan, Emanuel has led many legendary fighters into the squared circle and played a major role in some epic battles. Emanuel has trained the likes of Thomas Hearns, Evander Holyfield, Julio Cesar Chavez, Oscar Dela Hoya, Lennox Lewis, just to name a few. He has been a part of historic battles like Hearns vs. Leonard, Hearns vs. Hagler, and Lewis vs. Tyson. Nobody knows the fight game better than Emanuel Steward.

Emanuel Steward cannot believe how fortunate he is to have found the sport of boxing. But maybe the sport of boxing found him, he has been a part of boxing in almost every capacity, but the role that he has mastered is that of trainer. He feels just like so many of the great fighters he has trained, that he is blessed with a gift, a vision that enables him to bring out the best in his fighters, in the most trying of all sports. Emanuel has now been sharing his fine art of training for over 4 decades.

Nearly all of Emanuel Steward’s star pupils honed their skills within the amateur boxing program. Many were part of great Olympic teams that produced so many gold medals for the United States and many of those Olympic champions went on to become professional World champions.

There has been a tremendous decline in the U.S. program over the last 20 years. In 1984 the U.S. team captured 9 gold medals, in 1988 there were 3, and in the last 3 Olympics combined, only 2 Americans have won gold, De la Hoya in 1992 and David Reid in 1996. Emanuel Steward feels this tremendous plummet of the U.S. program has had a major negative impact on the sport of boxing today in this country. Steward believes the future of boxing in America begins at the grassroots level of amateur boxing.

Now in his 43^rd year of training fighters, Emanuel Steward seems to be showing little signs of slowing down. He was in the corner of Lennox Lewis for the final fight of his career against Vitali Klitschko in June of 2003. Less than a year later, he was working Vitali’s corner when he captured the vacant WBC heavyweight title. When a fighter is on his way up or on his way down, they seem to all want call upon the wisdom of Emanuel Steward. There are only a handful of trainers who can really make a difference between winning and losing just by being in the corner. Emanuel Steward is high atop that short list. We’re happy to have had him in our corner, on “In This Corner”.