Emanuel Steward, famed boxing trainer, dies at 68

When it came to boxing, Emanuel Steward wore many hats.

The Hall of Fame trainer was best known for his work with Thomas Hearns and later, Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko. He also worked as a commentator on HBO for more than a decade.

Steward died Thursday near Chicago. He was 68.

The cause of his death was not disclosed, but Steward had suffered a lengthy illness following a bout of diverticulitis last month.

Steward grew to prominence in the 1970s as head of the Kronk Gym in Detroit, which produced several champions and top-flight fighters for decades.

"He was so many things to so many people," said local trainer Eddie Mustafa Muhammad, one of dozens of world champions Steward trained during his career. "He was a great teacher. He was a great commentator. He was a great ambassador. He was even a great cook."

Muhammad, a former WBA light heavyweight champion who trains several fighters in Las Vegas, said Steward wasn't just someone telling a fighter to throw his jab.

"He was a teacher, first and foremost," Muhammad said. "You have trainers, and you have teachers. Emanuel was a teacher. He would show you a move and then explain to you why you needed to use that move and why it made you a better fighter. That's teaching."

"He brought the very, very best out of me," Hearns once said of Steward.

Klitschko has trained recently without Steward for his fight against Mariusz Wach next month in Germany

"His spirit is always here," Klitschko said. "I can hear his voice in sparring while doing things, whispering in my ear. As the famous saying goes, 'The show must go on,' and that's exactly the case."

Broadcaster Al Bernstein said no one sold the sport like Steward.

"He was the best ambassador boxing could have had," Bernstein said from his Las Vegas home Thursday. "He was so willing to share his knowledge. You could ask him anything, and he would share it with you. It's what made him a great announcer."

HBO Sports hired Steward as an analyst in 2001 and used him on its fights until he got sick this year. Ken Hershman, president of the cable enterprise, said in a statement: "Manny was a respected colleague who taught us so much, not only about the sweet science, but also about friendship and loyalty. His energy, enthusiasm and bright smile was a constant presence."

Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said Steward had the skills of a diplomat.

"I'll never forget when we did the press tour for (Marvin) Hagler-Hearns and we were doing a 30-city tour all over the country," Arum said. "Caesars Palace supplied their plane, and it was a beautiful plane. The deal was when we came West, Hagler would use the plane and when we flew to the East Coast, Tommy would use it.

"Well, Hagler reneged on the deal and refused to use the other plane when we were going back East. I remember how angry Tommy was. But Manny was able to smooth things over, and he may have saved the fight."

The Hagler-Hearns fight at Caesars on April 15, 1985, is considered one of the greatest in boxing history. Hagler knocked out Hearns in the third round after the first two rounds produced fireworks by both fighters.

Marc Ratner, former executive director of the Nevada Athletic Commission, said Steward was great too work with.

"He never gave us a problem, and he understood what the commission's job was," Ratner said. "He never gave excuses when his fighters lost, and he was always gracious when they won."

Arum lauded Steward's integrity, saying, "He was a wonderful man. You could always depend on him to keep his word."

That extended to Steward's running the Kronk Gym. His willingness to take in troubled youngsters and get them on the right path endeared him to Arum.

"We promoted a lot of Kronk fighters," Arum said. "But it was the hundreds of kids he helped pull off the street and give them direction and hope that I always admired about Manny. He saved so many young people's lives, and sometimes that gets lost because people love to talk about (Hearns)."

Muhammad said Steward also was an activist for fighter safety. He supported causes to help retired boxers, and he also was backing efforts such as the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health's ongoing study of concussions and head injuries suffered by fighters.

"He pushed hard to help the old fighters and also make it safer for the current fighters," Muhammad said.

Steward's work with world champions reads like a Who's Who of boxing: Julio Cesar Chavez, Oscar De La Hoya, Wilfred Benitez, Evander Holyfield, Miguel Cotto, Yuriorkis Gamboa. Steward worked with all of them and many more.

Bernstein said that while Hearns enjoyed remarkable success under Steward's watch, and Klitschko thrived with Steward in his corner, he thought Steward's best work was with Lewis.

"It wasn't that Lennox didn't have talent. He did," Bernstein said of the British heavyweight who ruled the division from 1995 from 2003. "But the two of them working together made Lennox almost unbeatable. They just had a remarkable chemistry."

Bernstein also said Steward's generosity toward charitable causes hit close to home for him. In 2008 Bernstein and his wife, Connie, founded "The Caring Place," which helps families of cancer victims. Steward was a regular participant in their various fundraisers.

"He came and gave every time we asked him," Bernstein said. "It shows the kind of person he was."

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.