It has been eleven years since the legendary boxing trainer Emanuel Steward passed away. You could fill a Boxing Hall of Fame with the fighters that West Virginia’s pugilistic sage has guided over the years. Lennox Lewis, Oscar De La Hoya, Prince Naseem Hamed, Miguel Cotto, Tommy Hearns and Evander Holyfield are just a small sample. This well of titanic talent barely scratches the surface of the fighters Steward has worked with.
But one fighter demonstrates Steward’s innate genius for improving boxers more than any other. Wladimir Klitschko was a heavyweight hope whose ambitions had been forcibly curtailed when he sought the help of the Kronk leader. When Emanuel passed in 2012, his charge was the unified heavyweight champion of the world. Before all was said and done, Klitschko would go unbeaten for a decade.
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That was all in the distant future though. Klitschko had suffered the upset of the year when being knocked out by Corrie Sanders in 2003. He won two warm-up bouts before enlisting Steward as his coach. Their first bout together could not have gone any worse. Klitschko was knocked out in five rounds of a WBO heavyweight title fight with Lamon Brewster. It was Klitschko’s third career loss. Steward would never see him lose again.
Steward had coached the greatest heavyweight in recent memory, Lennox Lewis. Under his stewardship, if you’ll pardon the pun, ‘The Lion’ had built his style around defensive genius, well-timed power shots and the best jab the heavyweight division had seen since Larry Holmes. Lewis’ rise to undisputed dominance would provide the blueprint for the Steward/Klitschko relationship.
After early wins over contenders DaVarryl Williamson and Eliseo Castillo, ‘Dr Steelhammer’ was ready to test his new-found style against a stiffer challenge. Step forward, ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’. Samuel Peter was one of the most feared men in the heavyweight division. The 24-0 power puncher had racked up an extensive highlight reel of knockouts. With Mike Tyson having retired just three months before Klitschko faced Peter, many were keen to anoint the Nigerian as the next incarnation of ‘Iron’ Mike.
There were times in this dramatic heavyweight collision where it looked like Peter would make good on that promise. The clubbing blows of the powerhouse took their toll, even if many of them did so on the back of the Ukrainian’s head. Klitschko was knocked down three times over the course of the contest. But unlike against Sanders and Brewster, or in his first career loss to Ross Puritty, Klitschko kept getting up. Not only that, but he boxed brilliantly when he did so. Peter won some battles but, at the end of 12 rounds, it was ‘Dr Steelhammer’ that won the war. Klitschko was awarded the unanimous decision. He would not be knocked down again under Steward’s watch.
The Peter win aged incredibly well as ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ went on to reign as WBC heavyweight champion. There was a belt on the line for Klitschko too when he fought IBF champion Chris Byrd in his next bout. The improvements in the challenger were becoming clearer. In 2000, Klitschko had defeated the same opponent by unanimous decision to win the WBO championship. In 2006, he stopped the champion in seven ruthless rounds.
Klitschko 2.0 would utterly dominate the heavyweight division over the following decade. Steward shepherded him through a revenge mission in which he knocked out Brewster. He formulated the punch-perfect gameplan to overwhelm WBO boss Sultan Ibragimov in a unification fight. There were wins over former champions Hasim Rahman and Ruslan Chagaev. Klitschko even course-corrected the mistakes that had him on the canvas against Peter, winning a rematch against him by knockout.
Perhaps the crowning glory of Steward and Klitschko’s time together came in 2011. Klitschko handed WBA champion David Haye a demoralising beating. It must have tasted extra sweet considering ‘Hayemaker’ had lobbied for the fight by wearing a t-shirt depicting himself decapitating Wladimir and his brother, Vitali.
It was announced in the build-up to Klitschko’s 2012 fight with Mariusz Wach that Steward would be unable to corner his fighter as he was recovering for a bowel operation. Tragically, he would never accompany his illustrious charge to the ring again. Steward passed away at the age of 68.
But Klitschko lived on as one of Steward’s many incredible gifts to boxing. Klitschko beat Wach, along with another five challengers, before coming unstuck against Tyson Fury in 2015. It was an incredible reign engineered by one of boxing’s greatest architects. You could tell similar stories about any of the dozens of fighters the Kronk leader advised and trained during his career. Fighters came to Manny when they wanted to reach that next level. More often than not, Steward got them there.
