The one thing that Steward wanted Klitschko to utilize, which they had been working on in the gym, was the right uppercut. Steward slowly rebuilt Klitschko's confidence and turned him into a dominant heavyweight champion. It was rocky in the beginning as the first fight that Klitschko had with Steward he lost by KO to Lamon Brewster. Steward joined the corner of Wladimir Klitschko in 2004. Lewis compiled a record of 16-1-1 under Steward, including victories over Evander Holyfield (whom Steward also once trained), Mike Tyson and Vitali Klitschko. Then he switched corners and helped Lewis become the most dominant heavyweight of his era later in his career. Throughout his incredible career, Steward reportedly trained 41 world champions, perhaps, the most.

Steward demonstrated his versatility as a trainer when he worked the corner of Oliver McCall in his upset of Lennox Lewis. Steward also served as National Director of Coaching for USA Boxing in the early 2000’s. With his boxers he just asked them to trust his vision and when they did they succeeded. When it came to boxing, Steward always saw what no one else could foresee. He saw what no one else did at the time.' 'This was before HBO was in the fight game in a big way. I do accept some responsibility.'He told me at that meeting that he thought HBO could be the next big thing coming in boxing,' Abraham said. Born in Bottom Creak, West Virginia, but raised in Detroit, he enjoyed a successful. “I had a great cheerleader in my corner, but not much of a trainer. The late, great Emanuel Steward would have turned 71 on July 7 in 2015. “I was making a lot of mistakes and I wasn’t being told about it,” Lewis later said. When one such left was thrown in the second round and Lewis’ chin was unprotected, McCall threw and landed a powerful right, knocking the champion to the canvas at Wembley Arena so heavily that after Lewis returned to his feet following a count of six the referee Jose Guadalupe Garcia rightly rescued him.Īlready frustrated with the methods of his then-trainer Pepe Correa, the previously undefeated Lewis, after also considering the decorated Angelo Dundee, recruited none other than Steward to be Correa’s successor and oversee the rebuild required to make him the world’s leading heavyweight. Recognising Lewis remained reliant on his natural talent – since impressing in stopping Donovan 'Razor' Ruddock in two rounds he had laboured to victories over Tony Tucker, Bruno and Phil Jackson – Steward had prepared McCall to counter what he perceived to be Lewis’ lazy left hand. In McCall’s corner that night, however, working his 94th world title fight was Steward, as effective a motivator as he was technically and tactically aware. Steward's sister, Sylvia Steward-Williams. So heavily favoured was Lewis, then the WBC heavyweight champion, the night of 24 September 1994 that not only had McCall been installed as a 5/1 underdog – even amid an awareness of his success as a sparring partner for Mike Tyson and Frank Bruno – but that an agreement existed for Lewis to fight his great rival Riddick Bowe the following March, after which it was hoped that the winner would meet the imprisoned Tyson. A poster honoring boxing trainer Steward and the boxers he trained is seen in the trainer's office. With Lewis, as the trainer of his then-opponent Oliver McCall, Steward had even proved the inspiration behind the significant upset victory that ultimately proved Lewis’ making.

If with Hearns, one of the revered Four Kings, he masterminded the evolution of a once unremarkable puncher into one of the most devastating in history, in the similarly great Lewis and Klitschko he rescued and rebuilt the careers of two heavyweight champions whose futures were under threat. 6 They joined forces after Steward masterminded Oliver McCall's, right, victory over Lewis Credit: Getty Images - Getty Emanuel 'Manny' Steward (J October 25, 2012) was an American boxer, trainer, and commentator for HBO Boxing.

Emanuel steward trained