Q&A: Emanuel Steward!

June 19, 2003

By William Trillo

As one of the fight game's top trainer/managers, Emanuel Steward has been involved with more big time boxing events than most people will see in an entire lifetime. This weekend he will add to his prestigious resume' as his top fighter, world heavyweight champ Lennox Lewis (40-2-1, 31 KOs) puts his WBC/IBO belts on the line as he prepares to take on the 6' 8" Ukrainian slugger Vitali Klitschko (32-1, 31 KOs).

At the present time Steward not only trains Lennox but also finds time to guide the young fighters with dreams of stardom at The Kronk Gym and aheads the 2004 U.S. Olympic boxing team. And as if that wasn't enough, Emanuel also brings his knowledge to HBO "Boxing After Dark" as a fight commentator. Fightnews.com was able to catch Steward between workouts and media appointments to get his view of what is about to transpire this weekend in LA.

Can you believe it's been almost 45 years since L.A. has hosted a world heavyweight title fight, that one being for Floyd Patterson's belt?

I remember when it happened, it has been a long time, even for here in L.A. where they really don't have that many big fights like this one anyway. I thought it was the Ali-Norton fight, I forgot that wasn't for the title. There hasn't been any big concerted effort neither, to promote any big time boxing here in L.A. on a regular basis.

We had The Forum running their fights but it was more like routine, monthly type fights with the same guys fighting, and everybody seemed satisfied from the promotional viewpoint, and with that nobody wanted to step up too much and go for the big time fights. The fans would have always come out and supported it, if someone would have really tried to push it.

Lennox shares a common thread with Floyd in that he is one of few men to regain the true linear Heavyweight belt, do you feel that Lennox will be remembered as one of the all-time great heavies?

Oh, bigger than Patterson! I think right now, the way Lennox is going he is going to be considered right up there, possibly right up next to Ali and Joe Louis, at the rate he is going. Right now, no one is looking at it that way, but when it is all said and done and over with and we look at his accomplishments, just that alone, and we realize what he has accomplished, and we don't look at it for being popular and flamboyant and being in the papers, but we just look at his accomplishments, he is going to be remembered as being fantastic!

Taking into consideration Kirk Johnson's loss to Ruiz that put a road block in the plan to fight him, and now the chest injury, is it safe to say that a Lennox Lewis-Kirk Johnson fight is just not meant to be.

It will never happen! That fight came about as a result of the breakdown of negotiations with Klitschko and German television, and so rather than stay out Lennox said, "Hey I got to fight somebody, make a fight." So that's where Kirk Johnson slipped in. But now that's behind us and we are going to fight Klitschko.

Lennox only wants to fight fights that are going to have some meaning to them, and there was so much talk about the Klitschko brothers that after the man we intended to fight got hurt, he said,"Well let's steal us a Klitschko, it's one of the brothers and that's who the people have been wanting to see me fight, especially someone bigger than me!" So that was it, and after that, it seems like Roy Jones is blossoming on the horizon.

Lennox has been the dominant fighter since 1988, when he beat Riddick Bowe, and it was because of that victory that he never did fight him professionally, because he remembered that and was afraid of him. And in the last 15 years he has been the most consistant and dominant Heavyweight, he lost two fights and everyone knows it's not because those fighters were better than him, it was because he relaxed and that was to their advantage, but he beat both of them in the return matches. He won the Gold Medal in the Olympics, and he is the only guy that I know that has beaten every major name that I can think of in his era, and that's very unusual.

So then, do you see any problem that either one of these Klitschko brothers could pose for Lennox?

They have two elements that are very serious to me, they are physically big men. They're this new generation of the big coordinated guys, and they have tremendous extensive amateur backgrounds which is very unusual for heavyweights. That's something that Michael Grant didn't have. I think it's Vitali that has over 200 fights! These guys have great experience, like Lennox, in all these big international tournaments. A lot of heavyweights don't have a lot of amateur fights because they just get into boxing because somebody sees them and says, " Oh you're a big strong guy, you should be boxing instead of playing basketball like the Michael Grant's and the Jameel Mcline's and those type of guys!"
These Klitschko's started boxing and then they grew and they grew and along the way they got over 200 fights and a lot of international competition against Cuba, Russia and the United States. And on top of that they have coordination, and that's the new and different generation of Super Heavyweights who can fight.

Unlike Jameel Mcline, he didn't get into boxing until he was around 22 years old, all these guys are like this usually. Guys like Lance Whitaker come to mind. But these super heavyweights that started early and have been able to maintain their coordination, well it's just a different generation. So it's an interesting fight and we do have a little fear and respect there.

As one of the premier trainers in the fight game today you were brought into the Lewis camp to teach him how to make better use of his natural God given talent. But allow me to turn the tables if I may. What has Lennox Lewis taught Emanuel Steward?

I have always wanted to work with Lennox because I thought he was one of the most naturally talented athletes that I have ever seen. And when he won the Olympic Gold Medal I was the first person he came to. He came to Detroit to sign a managerial contract with me, I had to take off for a few days to take care of some other business and I left him in Detroit by himself for a few days and he was sitting there restless and he ended up going back to Canada and then he ended up going back to England. But he always wanted to be with me and I always wanted to have him because of the fact that when he came out and beat Riddick Bowe I was so impressed with a guy that saw he was losing the fight and got so excited that he came out and just physically crushed him. He knew that he was losing the fight and said I can't beat him being technical so I am going to do what I have to do to win, and he came out and crushed Bowe in the next round.

That's what I call a winner. Someone who will find a way to win, regardless. So I was a big fan of Lennox, and Lennox had plenty of respect for me. And then later on I read in a book that his mother's plan was for Lennox to sign with me and join The Kronk Boxing Gym, I never even knew that. And it ended up with me having to be in the other corner when he was losing the fight that I ended up through that weird situation getting involved with him. We have a lot of respect for each other.

And being with Lennox, I have learned to deal with a person more than a I have ever had to. Lennox's personality is opposite from all the other guys that I have had to work with, being accessible to the media is not important to him. What's important to him is being in great condition and winning his fights and not doing anything to embarrass himself or the sport, in his life outside the ring, and that's all he does, which is unusual.

Everything we do is very organized, and he is the type of guy who likes to think about things and analyze things very carefully. And I have learned to respect him and get along with him just as he is. Lennox is a unique individual and an unbelievable athlete. And another thing that I have learned about him is he is very dedicated in getting prepared, even in South Africa Lennox was in condition. He is one of the few guys that will call up and say, "Manny what are you doing? I want to get together, I am up here at my Mom's house in Canada, can you drive up here tomorrow? And bring your stuff I want to train for a couple of days." And that's just for perfection, maybe in his mind he thought of a little move, and even though he is on vacation he is a perfectionist, and I have had to learn to live and work inside of his personality. He is different, and that's just him, and effect and results is what counts! And that's the big lesson that I have learned!

Last question, this weekend Las Vegas posted the over-under for this fight at 8 1/2 rounds, do you have anything you would like to say to the so-called oddsmakers?

Well, I've already said my prediction. It won't go 5 rounds. I base that on a couple of things. When Lennox fights big guys like himself or bigger, he becomes very aggressive, whether he feels threatened or whatever, he becomes a different person, he fights very aggressively, he did it with Golota, Michael Grant, even with Akiwande. He's a different person. And a guy this size is going to make him be more aggressive, and when he is aggressive he is effective. Lennox has one of the most accurate punch rates there is, he doesn't miss a lot of punches. If he throws 13 punches he may land 12 of them. He is very accurate and I know he is going to come out and throw a lot of fast punches because of the size of Klitschko, and if he is punching fast he is going to be landing fast. So if it goes past five I will be suprised.