![]() ![]() For years I’ve seen him as cornerman and commentator. Having all this information fresh in my mind I was no doubt nervous at the prospect of speaking to Emmanuel Steward. With the national black eyes the city has received over the past we can only hope Kronk Gym will be seen as an Ambassador of positivity and the city reconsider its decision to close this much-needed gem. Steward has taken boys and girls under his wing who would have otherwise have had nothing positive to do. Steward himself had a run-in with the law after injuring another teen in a street fight but was given the opportunity to avoid juvenile detention by resuming his amateur career in boxing. It has also been the home away from home for many of Detroit’s troubled youth. ![]() Steward accepted a part-time coaching position of the boxing program at Kronk and history was born.įrom the 1971 championship team with its unprecedented twenty-one consecutive victories to future Hall of Fame prospect Jermain Taylor walking through its doors earlier this year, Kronk Gym has remained at the forefront of champion makers and reinforcing the mettle of fighters already with belts.īut the gym has been more than just the base of operations for so many great fighters. Steward first came to Kronk in 1969 with his half brother James where he would coach him to a win in the Detroit Golden Gloves competition. Kronk, a former Detroit City Councilman, in honor of his Polish heritage considering it was in the heart of a Polish neighborhood. I had the opportunity to speak to the man who is a legend in the realm of pugilism about the future, both of the building and the athletes being groomed within its bowels. The city announced at the end of 2005 that Kronk would close its doors, but by the efforts of generous donors and Emmanuel Steward it has remained open. Under the tutelage of Emmanuel Steward there have been over thirty champions who have emerged from the Detroit-based facility, but despite all the accolades and positive attention brought to the area it’s on the verge of closing. These are all fighters churned out by the world renown Kronk Gym. Just the tip of the iceberg in a Who’s Who amongst the boxing elite, past and present. “I will miss our time together.Thomas Hearns. “It is not often that a person in any line of work gets a chance to work with a legend.… I was privileged enough to work with one for almost a decade,” Klitschko said. Klitschko has trained without Steward for his title defense against Mariusz Wach next month in Germany. With Steward presiding over a “168-hours-a-week” training program in which he’d often sleep in the same room and share meals with his fighters, then train, watch film and engage in “talking, talking, talking,” Lampley said, Lewis developed to defeat Mike Tyson in 2002. Many fighters relied on Steward’s wisdom. Losing him from my life, I’m very hurt today.” Emanuel Steward is the man who taught me how to adapt, how to deal with all the different situations. “Through the good times, the difficult times, he was there for me. “I was like the son he never had,” Hearns said Thursday of Steward. In a fight often regarded as the greatest three-round bout in the sport’s history, Hearns blasted Hagler in the opening seconds, but suffered a broken right hand on his first punch, delivering what Lampley described as “the perfect step-over right cross.”Ī hurt and cut Hagler regrouped and rallied for the third-round knockout. “Now you won’t have any legs tonight, so you’ll just have to run at him and try to knock him out,” Steward said to Hearns. Steward returned to find one of the people massaging Hearns’ legs, a “terrible mistake,” Steward recounted to Lampley. In his absence, some Detroit friends entered. Steward left Hearns’ side briefly in the pre-fight training room to tend to some errands. Hearns gained another mega-bout against Marvin Hagler. Hearns was leading on all three judges’ score cards when Leonard launched a stirring rally that concluded with a 14th-round technical knockout. The next year Hearns, who developed under Steward’s hand from scrawny “Motor City Cobra” to “Hitman,” battled Sugar Ray Leonard in a highly anticipated super-fight. In 1980, Hilmer Kenty became Steward’s first champion. “His favorite quote was, ‘Who would’ve thought I’d leave West Virginia to find a gym for troubled, inner-city kids in Detroit and train an Irish middleweight, Andy Lee, and a Ukrainian heavyweight, Klitschko?’” Lampley said.
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