Steward Discusses Povetkin Backing Out Of Klitschko Fight

Hall of fame trainer and trainer of current WBO,IBF,IBO, and Ring heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, Emanuel Steward had a few words on the pullout of Alexander Povetkin and a replacement fight with the next highest IBF available opponent Samuel Peter.


On Wladimir Klitschko’s recent switch in opponent from Alexander Povetkin to Sam Peter:

“Well I was kind of prepared for that. I have never believed that Povetkin was going to fight Wladimir, just not as bad as David Haye. So we were prepared and I told Wladimir to be prepared about two weeks ago that he might have to fight Sam Peter and also that they should contact him to see if he was available, because I had a feeling that this was going to happen.”




On whether he blames Teddy Atlas for Povetkin pulling out of the fight:

“Well he’s been consistent. From day one Teddy has never said that he thought his fighter was ready. If you read between the lines in all of the interviews that he did, he was always consistently just speaking in general like how you have to train a guy this way, you have to be prepared, people have to find themselves. He never did speak with any strong conviction that he felt that his fighter was ready. He feels that he needs more time. He was put in that position because the fighter was already in the mandatory position when he became involved with him. If he hadn’t been, he probably would have never pushed for him to be in that position. So he did what he thought was best and I respect it and I respect the fact that the IBF is going along with that. After two years he has shown no real desire to step up and take advantage of his position. They have decided to move on.

So everything is sorting itself out so to say, and you can’t make a guy fight that doesn’t want to fight and it’s very difficult to promote a fight when you have one guy who’s prepared and another guy who really seems sort of reluctant to participate and promote it and everything else. We have to move on to Sam Peter and I think it’s going to be an interesting fight because Sam didn’t look that great in some of his fights after the first fight with Wladimir. But his last fight, which I think was in Texas when I was down there doing the HBO broadcast, everyone said he looked fantastic just due to the fact his weight is down. Maybe with a different trainer, I think he’s working now in Big Bear and having a whole different attitude about everything. Just the fact that his weight is down you know he’s taking it more seriously. That’s one of the complaints always was his conditioning. And he is a puncher so nevertheless, we’re not going to be relaxed. The first fight had enough drama to last me a lifetime with Wladimir down three times and then in the twelfth round Sam Peter was out on his feet. So we’re not going to take the fight lightly because he is a puncher. We figure Peter to be a much more dangerous puncher than Povetkin.”

On what he believes will be the major difference in the rematch between Wladimir Klitschko and Sam Peter:

“That was the breakthrough fight for Wladimir Klitschko. That was the fight after he had been stopped twice and he had a fight with DaVarryl Williamson where he looked not that impressive. He went down in that fight even though he won a technical decision because of a cut. His brother had like given up hope on him and most of the people in his camp, and it was just he and I for the most part. That was apparent for the Sam Peter fight. It was a fight where, for the first time, he actually barred his brother from coming to a training camp. They had been training together all of their careers. It was because of the lack of confidence and the negative vibes that everyone had going into that fight.

He could have chosen an easier fight, but he ask who was the best fighter out there that could give him credibility back after being stopped by Brewster and barely getting by with DaVarryl Williamson and having been stopped by Sanders. I said “Well the most dangerous guy is Sam Peter”. So that’s what he wanted. That was the make or break fight that he said would put his career back on track or he could have picked a safe bout. So going down two times in the fight early, which they weren’t really clean knockdowns, but I looked at the expression on his face and it was like psychologically he wasn’t hurt but he was just totally confused and disappointed in himself. When he came back at the end of the round he was surprised by how cool I was, because I saw he wasn’t hurt. So I spoke to him very carefully and told him he was boxing at a distance where he could get caught with those clubbing punches and that he needed to be all the way back or if he got in too close to just tie him up and never allow him at that halfway distance where he could get clubbed. He said, “Okay” and if you watch the fight, before the bell rang for the next round after he had been down twice, he was the one in the center of the ring waiting on Sam Peter.

That was psychologically a tough fight for him. The last knockdown, I think was the tenth round, which we both consider was a true knockdown but he came back and had Sam out on his feet in the twelfth round so that was like the turning point in his entire boxing career in that fight. Since then I think he’s progressed tremendously and gone to another level to become one of the probably most respected and maybe on his way to becoming one of the top fighters in heavyweight history. Meanwhile Sam has been going back and forth and probably aside from his last fight hasn’t been that impressive. So it’s going to be interesting to see what happens because we still don’t know what the psychological affect will be on Wladimir. Whether this time he wants to go out and prove that he’s the best heavyweight, and this is a good chance for him to fight a guy who just recently fought the other heavyweight that everybody considers maybe the best which is a guy named Vitali Klitschko.

This will be a very good comparison point for the public to judge between the two heavyweight champions and the two brothers. For that reason, I think Wladimir is going to try and put on a very impressive performance and I don’t know if Sam’s going to be able to hold him off if Wladimir comes in with that attitude. Wladimir is one of the most devastating one-punch boxers in heavyweight history. He’s not the type of guy who wears you down. He can turn out the lights with one single punch. Sam Peter said he’s going to pick up where he left off, that’s what Wladimir told me—where he left off the last fight by knocking him down. I said, “Well Wladimir, you have to pick up where the fight actually finished up in the twelfth round where you almost had him out with the left hook”. It will be I think an explosive fight because of the emotions with Wladimir trying to prove something and Sam realizing this is his big shot right now. It’s going to be an interesting fight between punchers for a change.”

His thoughts on Sam Peter’s comments from earlier in the show when Peter had words for Wladimir stating, “Be ready because it’s going to be a short night”:

“I think it will but I think he’ll be on the short end of it, but that really means that he has tremendous confidence in himself now and I think that’s good.”

Steward: Haye Doesn't Have Any Guts!

Emanuel Steward, trainer of Wladimir Klitschko. was recently interviewed on "On The Ropes Boxing Radio" and talked about Cotto, Wladimir Klitschko and his future potential fights with Povetkin, and Haye, and other matters. Here's is what he said in regard to Wladimir:


On how Cotto compares to guys like Wladimir Klitschko and Lennox Lewis in terms of having the ability to bounce back from the low point in his career in order to still go on to accomplish great things:
“I would say so, but one of the things—yes is your answer—but one of the things that’s very tough for Miguel is he’s in a super, super talented division. I should say divisions, which means when you’re fighting against a super star, almost all Hall of Fame future fighters, and you’re fighting them on a consistent basis, it’s very difficult. Lennox did not have that many really super talented fighters at that time. There were good guys, but not on the level that Miguel has and he’s right there in between that 147 and 154 which is only seven pounds. So the fights that we can make with him would possibly be with Paul Williams, and maybe the Mayweathers and Pacquiao, Cintron, Angulo—I mean, there’s lots of difficult fights where it may not be that easy for him to be so dominating, but I think he’s in a great position now to be right in the mix and very respected as compared to where he’s been the last two or three years with the very tough fights that he’s had and hasn’t had a decisive victory over any of the elite fighters so to say. Just closely getting by with Clottey and Mosley, then the Margarito fight, even the Zab Judah fight was a very brutal tough fight. All of those fights were very physically tough fights that he suffered a lot of punishment in, so he’s an amazing person just to see him training the way he is with the enthusiasm looking like a young kid.”

His views on the recent news that David Haye ignored a 50-50 offer with no future options from the Klitschko Camp:
“I don’t think they will ever get that little puppy David Haye to come out from under the bed. He’s going to let his manager stay out there and lock all of the doors and protect him. I don’t think we’ll ever see David Haye fight. We may see him draw some more cartoon sketches and cut them up and do stuff like that, but I can’t understand how a guy can claim that he’s even a solid heavyweight, let alone hold a belt, and let a man talk to you the way Wladimir’s spoken about him or I’ve spoken about him. He has had no response and Wladimir is putting I think about three titles on the line plus the Ring title, and doing everything—and he still won’t even sit down and even talk about it. I personally don’t think that David Haye has any guts at all when it comes down to fighting the Klitschkos and he can’t find all these excuses about money when the man is willing to put all of his titles on the line and do a 50-50 share right down the middle with you. And it’s the only big fight out there in boxing in the heavyweight division that people want to see, and really, the biggest fight in boxing outside of Mayweather and Pacquiao. With all of that interest that he created with his mouth, never did he do anything with his fists, and still to be in that position that makes him look like a genius if he took the fight because without doing anything, just running around and bragging and hassling and bad-mouthing the Klitschkos—he has worked himself into a great position to make possibly up to, I don’t know, maybe twenty or thirty million dollars. Then to walk away from it, the only way I can look at it is he doesn’t have any guts.”


On a potential fight between Wladimir Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin:
“I think that with Teddy training him, I think he will improve and he’s a good solid fighter. He has a good solid amateur apprenticeship behind him just like Wladimir, but Wladimir is just such an exceptional fighter that I just can’t see Povetkin or anyone beat Wladimir the way he’s fighting now at the top of his game. At least in Povetkin, he is a solid balanced type fighter who is technically very sound, but he just doesn’t have that extra super punch, or extra craftiness, or extra speed, or that little extra something that it would take to be a real big serious threat to Wladimir, but it would be a very interesting fight between two Gold Medal winners in the Olympics and everything. The big fight is really Haye, but Wladimir is doing what he should do. He said, ‘I’m going to stay busy, and until Haye wants to come away from under the bed, I’m going to just go out and fight whoever I have to fight’. Povetkin is a guy, he’ll fight Povetkin, it will be a very interesting fight still but I just can’t see right now anyone in the heavyweight division really beating Wladimir at this point at time. Povetkin is probably about the best solid challenge out there next to David Haye, and maybe the only challenge because David Haye I don’t think wants to get involved in any of this, anyway. So it’s a fight Wladimir has to take to stay busy and to maintain and keep his IBF title, which he considers all of his belts very precious and he’s never taken the attitude of ‘Oh I can just give up a belt’ or ‘It doesn’t mean anything, I’m bigger than the belt’. Those belts mean a lot to him, even though sometimes I question him, but he says they mean a lot to him and he wants to keep all of his belts so that’s it. I hope it takes place in September or October.”


On whether he believes we will ever see a fight between Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye:
“I don’t think so, with the kind of money and the public attacks he’s undergoing and everything else, I don’t think that David Haye will ever fight Wladimir. I mean you can’t give him any more. The public has demanded the fight. You, David, created it and still after getting the kind of money—it’s not like he even came back talking about even more money. He doesn’t want to talk, period, anymore. He’s got laryngitis now, but I don’t think we’ll ever see that fight.”

Here is a video of some of the interview about Wladimir Klitschko:

Steward: Haye Disappearing From Wladimir Klitschko

Wladimir Klitschko's trainer Emanuel Steward recently talked about how he believes Haye is scared of Wladimir Klitschko. He says ever since Wladimir posted a video calling out Haye, Haye has remained silent and only let his manager talk which he never done before. Here's what Steward had to say:

"Wladimir is a lot meaner and tougher than people realize. He looks like a sweet guy but there is a real mean dark side. I know he's that way. He's always trying to talk proper and making sure that he's always using the proper English words. He's always trying to be so nice and polite. He [Haye] followed us for two post-fights, he's all up on the stage threatening Wladimir and now that Wladimir called him back, he's disappeared. He’s got laryngitis. The only talking is coming from his manager. The manager was never talking before so why's he talking? I can’t say 'why wont he sign the contract' - because he signed the contract and he still wont fight.

Steward On Blog Talk Radio

Wladimir Klitschko's trainer Emmanuel Stewars was recently interviewed on Blog Talk Radio, and discussed many things including his fighter Wladimir and his performance in the Chamnbers fight, along with interesting potential matchups and a potential intriguing fight with David Haye. Push the play button below to hear the actual interview, or read parts of the interview below. Enjoy!

On how he rates Klitschko’s performance against Chambers

“I give him a B. It was a B. It was a good performance. It could have been better because of what his ability is compared to what he did, but it was still good. He went out and did what he was asked to do and he got the knockout. Chambers isn’t the easiest guy to fight, either. He spends his time mostly about, like 80% on the defensive mental mode—covering up, running away, hands over his head. It was very difficult to fight guys like that especially when you have a guy like Wladimir who’s a really technical, super intelligent, thinking fighter himself. So I had to do what I had to do the last two rounds to just try to push him out of his regular mode and he got really upset and all emotional and anxiety and then he went out and performed, but it was something I had to do. That’s my job as a trainer—to do what I have to do to get my fighter to get the best performance and I appreciate the fact that he did respond and he went and did what he was supposed to do..”

On his views for Klitschko in the future

“I think based on this performance here and his own conversations with me in the recent days that he realizes that he is actually too reluctant, too intelligent, too technical—that I think you’re going to see a much more aggressive fighter in Wladimir. If this man actually would just operate with close to 80%—he’s only operating with about 60%—he would be the most devastating heavyweight in the history of boxing because I’ve worked with him. Never, ever, ever have I been involved with a fighter who has so much one punch punching power. Even guys that knock somebody out—they get them hurt, they knock them down, they get them groggy—Wladimir is the only fighter I’ve ever worked with that everything can be normal like a big party—everybody is having champagne, on the floors, in the tuxedos, with the music—and the lights go off completely at one time. I mean it’s not like a gradual dimmer switch. I never saw anyone who knocked out people in a gym when they block punches and he did that about three weeks ago with a sparring partner—two weeks ago, prior to the fight. With a sparring partner he threw a left hook, the sparring partner blocked the punch and with twenty ounce gloves he was still knocked out. He has unbelievable one punch punching power and that’s why maybe he doesn’t put combinations together because he punches so effectively and with so much power with one punch, but his handicap and problem is he feints too much. He wants everything to be perfect—perfect balance, perfect this, and the last round he was a little overly aggressive, got out of position a few times, but to go three minutes with a guy with his power is like a lifetime because even if he just grazes you with a punch, you’re going to be hurt.”

On Wladimir’s punching power

“What makes him really special also is he has so much power in the late rounds. A lot of guys, great punchers like (Mike) Tyson, they were great in the early rounds but very seldom in the late rounds. Wladimir has knocked out guys like he did with Chris Byrd, and (Ray) Austin, and Eliseo Castillo—he knocked those guys out early because he threw a punch early, an early power punch. And then he’s had the power to go out after being down three times with Sam Peter and he had him out on his feet in the twelfth round of a very grueling fight with one single punch, a left hook. Then he knocked out Thompson. With Tony Thompson he ran across the ring and threw one straight right hand in the eleventh round and just walked away, and Thompson went down totally finished. Now he knocks out this guy in the twelfth round with ten or twelve seconds left with one punch. To have a fighter that has that kind of devastating one punch clean knockout power is so much stress on the opponent because you’re never safe.”

On a potential fight with Haye

“I would love to see that fight because David Haye and Wladimir Klitschko are the only two heavyweights that have explosive power—speed and one punch punching power. If they ever fight, because I don’t know if David wants the fight. He became a big name only by bragging about what he would do the Klitschkos, and drawing cartoon characters and cutting off heads and putting them on t-shirts—but he has never fought a quality heavyweight or did anything. He became a big celebrity just by talking about what he would do to a Klitschko and then he ran away from both fights. Nevertheless, he still is a very hot guy to fight as far as I’m concerned, and I still like the idea of him and Wladimir because they both have tremendous explosive punching power and speed.”

On Mosley vs Floyd Mayweather Jr

“Oh definitely. I have Mosley and Mayweather a dead even fight. The one good thing is that Shane is, first of all, to me is the first really live physical match-up fight that I think that really that Floyd has fought in about five or six years. I mean I looked at (Arturo) Gatti—I’m not trying to knock Gatti—Gatti was a good fight when he fought another brawler or another guy on his level who was exciting, but anytime he stepped up and fought class boxers he always lost because he could never deal with intelligent fighters. Oscar, you know, fights with Floyd and I cannot believe how he fought such a fight not using his talent, but nevertheless, people forget it was a split decision because Oscar was still just tall enough to use the jab in the early part and that bothered Floyd because Floyd’s defense of just rolling his shoulders and bending back is okay if you got small guys, but guys who have long enough arms to reach over and hit him he had to really fight with them and that was only a split decision. Shane matches up with him in size as a full welterweight and also Shane has good speed—maybe not as fast as Floyd but there’s not that much of a disparity. I think the intensity and the challenge that Shane brings into this fight is going to make Floyd Mayweather show his greatness or he could totally be dominated and look very inferior. He won’t be anywhere in between, he’ll go to one extreme or the other and I think that Shane may be the dark horse so to say in this whole situation because he could easily be a big threat and possibly beat Floyd and (Manny) Pacquiao. Shane is an old school fighter who fights with a lot of intensity, has speed, has shown a good chin and he’s going to be very well prepared. I just think that this is going to be maybe one of the best fights in a long time but I think this is the fight that will make Floyd Mayweather show his greatness or show his weakness—because he won’t be in between. He must fight in this fight.”

On how he would train Mosley

“Well I think he’s got a very good trainer working with him now in Naseem Richardson and he will need to jab and apply a lot of pressure but not necessarily when Floyd bends back, beating all along his elbows and the ribs throwing a lot of wasted punches which Oscar did. The biggest thing that will be a problem for Floyd is the jab—pressure, jab, pressure, jab, and once you get inside, then you throw punches because Shane is just big enough where his arms are long enough and he’s tall enough where he would have a problem avoiding Shane’s punches by just rolling his shoulder and sticking his head back to the ropes. But the thing that goes for Floyd is Floyd has good hand speed but he also has good foot speed, too, and Shane is really not known for his footwork. Floyd can move around, stop on a dime, punch in and out, catlike reflexes—maybe not throw the volume of punches that Shane throws, but he’s a very, very accurate pinpoint puncher and he has ability to move and change directions a lot. A slight edge would go to Mayweather because of the foot speed and the pinpoint accurate punches, but I think that Shane will, even though Floyd may have that advantage over him in those areas, I think Shane is still fast enough and has enough intensity and anger in him that he’s still going to force Mayweather to bring him out of his comfort zone and make him really have to sit there and show his greatness, and if he does—maybe what he’s been saying is, he’s one of the greatest welterweight fighter of all time even though he won’t fight a welterweight. So this is the first time he’s really fighting a really world class welterweight fighter.”

On which fight he thinks fans would enjoy more 'Mosley vs. Pacquiao' or 'Mayweather vs.Pacquiao'

“Mosley-Pacquiao or Mayweather-Pacquiao? Mosley-Pacquiao, Mosley-Pacquiao, Mosley-Pacquiao. I mean you know that Shane is going to bring it to you, I mean that’s him. There’s no way he’s going to run from anybody or try to be technical and if things get rough he’s still going to fight. Even in his losses to basically Winky Wright, who he had no business fighting because he was physically way too big, and Vernon Forrest, which was a tall rangy type guy and I know he lost to (Miguel) Cotto but I won’t even go into this because that was a close fight—but still, there’s no way you’re going to get anything but pure explosive excitement with Pacquiao and Mosley. But the fight based on the hype, the interest, and the hunger of the fans is still Mayweather and Pacquiao, but the true, true really explosive fight that the true fight fans would look forward to would be with Shane Mosley and Pacquiao. But still, the media and the press and everybody is going to make the fight if it’s possible with Pacquiao and Mayweather because of the anticipation and the marquee value and all of the hype—but the pure, pure fight is with Shane Mosley.”

On the fight between Haye and Ruiz

“I pick David to win because everything is going in his direction now with the speed and youth, but if I was a betting person I would have it like 6:5 that’s all, or 7:5. I don’t know how odds go because I never bet on a fight but I see it as that type of fight. It’s his home town, his area, his crowd—the momentum and movement and everything is with him, but still, Ruiz is a solid fighter, he’s a real heavyweight not a super heavyweight, he has a good chin and I don’t know that David has all of the gifted movements and the great coordination like Roy Jones had to stay for twelve rounds and move and not get hit, because the biggest problem I have with him is just his chin. When he got knocked down by Monte Barrett I said, ‘Oh my God’. So that’s the situation. A lot of people believe that he is going to go out and just blow Ruiz away, and maybe he will—I wish that that would happen—but I have him a slight favorite and that’s about it.”

On a Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye fight

“Well Wladimir would knock him out within four rounds because this is one of the few guys who Wladimir has a lot of animosity I guess and anger and he would be extremely aggressive very much like he was with Chris Byrd in their second fight, but I think until it happens—the knockout or whatever, which I think will happen within four rounds—it would be a very explosive exciting fight. You got two guys who are known for explosive punching power, great speed, and both of them reputedly got weak chins so it would be a great excitement fight. But I think that Wladimir’s size and a strong left jab would be too much in addition to the fact that Wladimir has that tremendous short punching power with both the left hand and the right hand. I think that would be a little too much for David to overcome, but in the meantime, he has the ability to knockout Wladimir if he can catch him, too, because he does punch hard and he does punch fast and he does punch freely. As soon as he gets into range he will let his punches go. He doesn’t hesitate, so it’s a fight as a fan I would love to see.”

Steward Predicts Klitschko KO's Chambers In 8

Wladimir Klitschko's trainer Emmanuel Steward has predicted that his fighter will knock out the #1 WBO mandatory challenger Eddie Chambers in eight rounds this Saturday, March 20th in their championship fight. Here's what Steward had to say..


"Chambers is the best he's ever fought, but Wladimir is in the form of his life and he'll win by KO by round 8 at the latest."

"Wladimir knows about the danger involved with Chambers. He worked on speed and movement and the pistol-like jab is ready to go."

Wladimir Klitschko also had the following to say about himself..

"I've never been so fast, I've never been so agile, I've never been so experienced as I am now. I am hungry. I am on fire. He wants my title but I won't allow it. He has an unorthodox style and he is very dangerous"

Klitschko Chagaev New Quotes

Here are some new quotes from Wladimir Klitschko and Ruslan Chagaev and their respective trainers ahead of their championship fight this Saturday, June 20th...

Wladimir Klitschko: “He’s the best opponent you could have asked for. Ruslan is the ideal solution after the cancellation of David Haye. He is the third best boxer after my brother Vitali and myself. He holds the WBA belt. He is the true world champion as he has defeated Nikolai Valuev.”
—–
Ruslan Chagaev: It has always been a big dream to fight at Schalke. Now it becomes reality. I have met the football team of Schalke 04 previous to my fight in 2008 against Matt Skelton. I gave them a boxing lesson together with my trainer Michael Timm. They were very nice. In general the people here are very kind and honest. I’m so excited about the fight. The size difference to Wladimir doesn’t bother me. I have prepared myself to Valuev who is also tall and heavy. I’m expecting to fight for 12 rounds. It is in god’s hands what going to happen on Saturday. I don’t want to say much as I want to let my hands speak in the ring.”
—–
Vitali Klitschko: “Chagaev is stronger, than Haye, but he talks less. He’s a very strong boxer….I’m sure that Wladimir or me would knock out Haye.”
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Klitschko trainer Emanuel Steward: “In three of the last of seven fights Wladimir boxed against lefthanders, and in amateur boxing he had huge experience when it was necessary to prepare for some opponents in just days. In the first few days Wladimir felt comfortable.”
—–
Chagaev trainer Michael Timm: “The size of Klitschko has not caused problems as we prepared to Valuev who is even larger than Klitschko. But, certainly we know, that Klitschko is a better boxer, moves quickly and can change tactics. We also prepare for that. We have a recipe for victory, but I certainly shall not tell it to you.”


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