Emanuel Steward - Life and Career

Life and Career

Steward was born in Bottom Creek, West Virginia, but, by the age of 12, he had moved with his mother to Detroit, Michigan after she divorced his father, who was a coal miner. After moving to Detroit, he worked breifly in the auto industry before eventually going to Brewster Recreation Center, where Joe Louis and Eddie Futch trained. Steward began an amateur boxing career there. He compiled a record of 94 wins and 3 losses as an amateur boxer, including winning the 1963 national Golden Gloves tournament in the bantamweight division. He was forced to abandon a professional career due to his family's economic situation, and began working as an electrical lineman.

In 1971, Steward took his half brother, James Steward, to the nearby Kronk Gym, a hot-bed for amateur boxers in the 1970s, and became a part time coach there. Steward trained many of the nation's top amateurs. He eventually translated his success with amateurs into a career training championship-level professional fighters.

On March 2, 1980, Hilmer Kenty became Steward's first world champion by knocking out world lightweight champ Ernesto España. Steward achieved his most notable early success with welterweight Thomas Hearns, whom he changed from a light hitting boxer into one of the most devastating punchers in boxing history. Hearns became one of Steward's most successful and popular fighters, fighting Sugar Ray Leonard, knocking out Roberto Durán, and challenging undisputed Middleweight Champion Marvelous Marvin Hagler in a fight known as The War. In 2012, he was training heavyweight Wladimir Klitschko, until a serious but undisclosed illness forced him to take a leave of absence from training.