Emanuel Steward On Klitschko and Adamek

This is a recent video interview where Wladimir Klitsckho's trainer Emanuel Steward talks about the Krunk gym, Tomasz Adamek, and his potential fight with the Klitschko's later on this year in September.

Emanuel Steward Interview Before Klitschko Peter Bout

This is a new interview with Wladimir Klitschko's trainer Emanuel Steward before Wladimir faces Samuel Peter today to defend his WBO, IBF, IBO, and Ring heavyweight belts.

Emanuel talks about Wladimir skills how he compares to Lennox Lewis and much more.

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 Chambers Open Workout

Wladimir Klitschko the reigning WBO, IBF, IBO, and Ring heavyweight champion and the #1 WBO mandatory challenger Eddie Chambers had a open workout in Germany on Wednesday in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Here's a couple videos showing footage of their public workout.

Steward Interview

This is a new interview from the hall-of-fame trainer Manny Steward who talks about his training regimen with current IBF/WBO/IBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko, his favorite boxing moments, and event hints at who he think would have won between Wladimir Klitschko and Lennox Lewis(whom he trained as well).


Q: Under your tutelage, Wladimir Klitschko has made noticeable improvements inside the ring. However, in your first outing working together he lost to Lamon Brewster. What are some of the most important things you have been able to teach Wlad since that time?

Well, he lost that night, but physically he wasn’t right. At the end of the first round, he couldn’t even focus, so I will leave it at that. And that is why I have never doubted him from that loss. I did not take that loss seriously.

But basically, what I did with Wladimir was teach him basics, which is what I did with Lennox (Lewis) and most of my fighters.. As a matter of fact, what was so strange is after we had been training for about a week, he was laughing one day, and I said, “Why are you laughing?” He said, “You know what you’re teaching me? When I started boxing when I was fourteen—you’re having me do exactly what I did then. With my feet spread apart at a certain distance and moving back and forth and making sure I maintained the same distance between my feet. That’s what we had to do in the program that I was in. You’re teaching me basic stuff.” We laughed, and I said “Well, that’s what I teach—basics, which is the most important thing starting with balance.” We spent a lot of time just moving back and forth, back and forth, and improved his balance in a certain way, because that’s really the foundation of everything.

The next thing was just to work on executing his punches with the shortest distance and the least amount of movement. Then a third thing we started doing, which he didn’t do so much in the beginning, was to spar a lot. Basically, with his program, they did not do a lot of boxing. They did a lot of exercises, like gymnastics stuff and everything—and that’s what they (the Klitschkos) said their program largely consisted of. So I said, “I believe you need to spar a lot.”, because before that, the exercise routine they had involved a lot of running, they would throw a ball up against the wall the turn around, catch it, and throw it again—it was a lot of conditioning things, and not so much sparring. I said, “I want you to spar more and more and more, and you will feel more comfortable after spending more time in the ring because this is your work shop.” You almost develop a certain sense of when your back will touch the ropes, and that’s why you never saw him with his back on the ropes, if you notice, in all of his fights. Even though he’s a power guy and most power men have to go back to the ropes in order to force opponents back in or in order to set them up to the body or something—you never, never see him (or Lennox or my fighters) with their backs to the ropes.

I also showed him to clinch guys properly, how to tie them up, and how to always break from clinches with the other guy’s back to the ropes/your back to the center of the ring, those types of things. So he began to spar a lot, and he is so comfortable now. So even in the morning, instead of running, we’re going to happily spend maybe about 45 minutes of him moving and dancing and things to improve his balance and his ring conditioning where he can feel things. As we say, when you spar enough and you box enough, you develop a sixth sense or a feeling where you know what’s about to happen. You have an instinct where you sense a certain punch coming and you can move out of the way almost automatically. That’s why I made him spar a lot. The more you spar, the more relaxed you become, and the more you can see or feel what is about to happen.

But the foundation of everything—everything—with any fighter I teach, is a good solid left jab. If the jab is working good, sooner or later, it opens up holes for the other punches, because the jab starts hitting the guy and he starts blocking and trying to focus on the jab, and that’s when the right hand comes the opponent isn’t even aware of it.

Q: Klitschko has been a very dominant champion under your guidance. He does not lose too many rounds these days and many of his detractors have criticized his level of opposition. However, in the past there have been other great heavyweights who have emerged in so-called “weak divisions” who have been able to prove their greatness by remaining dominant over a long period of time. In your opinion, what must Wladimir Klitschko accomplish in order to become a genuine part of the discussion pertaining to the being amongst the best heavyweights of all time?

I think you just hit on a summary of everything there in your long, complicated question. In history it shows. With Joe Louis, it was actually the same way with the “bum of the month club” as they say, and Larry Holmes also had to deal with the same kind of thing. Most heavyweights have a situation where some super fight arises. Lennox (Lewis) was having the same problem. Riddick Bowe refused to fight him, and all of a sudden, he was able to land a fight with (Evander) Holyfield and the fight with Mike Tyson, which has been his signature fight so to say.

But as long as you can keep winning and dominating, something is going to happen somewhere through some series of strange events. That’s what he is going through right now, and I told him, this is something that many champions have gone through. Even Mike (Tyson), when Mike was in his prime, he was just knocking out so many people, and then all of a sudden you get knocked out by one of those guys where it was just supposed to be another typical fight when he lost to Buster (Douglas). But it happens all the time in boxing. I told him, all you can do is keep dominating everyone, and it’s a little frustrating sometimes in his case with me because Wladimir has become such terrific boxer.

We spend as much time talking about stuff as we actually do training. A big part of training him is conversation. After we’re done with his training, he and I will hang around and talk for another 45 minutes to an hour just discussing everything we went over in minute detail. We’ll go over things like specific angles on the jab where he could do a little better to knock his opponent off-balance. I have never had someone so detailed. I think I am very detailed, and that’s one of things everyone who trains with me says. I’m even specific about things like the length of the socks come up the legs, the way the hands are wrapped, the waist, and the gloves, and everything. I am very detailed. Lennox Lewis was the only other boxer I knew who was pretty much the same way. A major part of training Wladimir as well as training Lennox was being available to talk, because there is so much to discuss.

I told him (Wladimir) you’re going through a frustrating period in boxing, and the fact that you’re dominating and winning rounds so much that what’s going to happen in the next few months or in the next year, if he continues doing this, is he will land a super fight of some type. Maybe like if David Haye may end up knocking out (Nikolai) Valuev and then he can eventually fight him, or even if Valuev wins, then that becomes a big fight. Or it could happen from some other kind of weird situation, but that opportunity will come if you keep winning and winning. I told him, “Right now, what people are going to start doing if you keep dominating is comparing you, not to fighters of this era, but they are going to start comparing you to other champions. That’s what you’re going to find yourself fighting against.” These hypothetical situations will arise where people are saying he’s so dominant that there’s nobody around to fight him, so the next question will be, what will he have done against Lennox Lewis? What will he have done against a Joe Louis or with a Muhammad Ali? That’s going to be his next opponent, he’s going be fighting fighters from the past in imaginary situations, because of his dominance—until something comes up big.

It’s a really awkward situation because Wladimir is such an intelligent fighter that he doesn’t look that good oftentimes when he fights guys who are defensive-minded. He fights best when guys attack him. When guys just sit back and wait and wait and wait, he’s so perfect that he sometimes does not like to overextend and throw punches that will leave him out of position. He fights so technical that sometimes, like in his fight with (Sultan) Ibragimov, it can be very difficult. He received a lot of bad publicity from his bout with Ibragimov but a lot of that was because of Sultan himself. After about four rounds, Ibragimov realized that Wladimir was really fast. After the fight he said he was very surprised that Wladimir was so fast and that he could not get away from his jab. Every time he tried to go forward, Wladimir would always have made a little move before he got started which had him off balance, and then Wladimir would hit him back with a jab, so he couldn’t get any rhythm. Around the fifth or sixth round, I looked at his face, and he really gave up—he couldn’t deal with Wladimir’s jab, he couldn’t get inside, and every time Wladimir stepped towards him, he would start bending back, and even though he was about six feet, he was making his body about five foot seven. Wladimir knew that if he threw long punches he would be out of position, so he didn’t commit too much. It was just a case of the nature of the fight, because Ibragimov had decided not to fight anymore. It was unfortunate.

But when he fought a guy such as Chris Byrd, that was a different fight. Chris, unlike the first fight, had been totally convinced that by just being aggressive and applying pressure that he could wear out Wladimir, because he and Lamon Brewster are cousins and Brewster told him that. Chirs was totally convinced he can win on pressure and that’s what made Wladimir look so great in that fight. In about the third or fourth round, Wladimir got mad because even though Chris is such a good guy, he could hear guys from his camp saying, “Just keep pressuring him Chris, keep pressuring him and he’ll fall apart.” That’s what made Wladimir very upset, he was very mad because of the lack of respect, but the fact that Chris was coming in and being aggressive made it a lot easier. He fights very well when guys are applying a lot of pressure on him.

Q: You’ve trained a lot of great fighters over the years. What was your proudest moment as a trainer throughout your long and illustrious career?

One of them was Holyfield beating Riddick Bowe. I worked with him only in that one fight. Oliver McCall knocking out Lennox Lewis was another. And Hilmer Kenty was my first world champion, which was a very big surprise. And as far as the Thomas Hearns victories, there were many.

The reason I said when we beat Riddick Bowe, is because when I trained him (Holyfield) for the fight, I told him, “This is going to be tough on you as a fighter. Bowe is bigger than you, younger than you, he has a beautiful left jab on the outside—you got to box him.” And even though Bowe was a big guy, he was a vicious fighter on the inside. He knew how to throw beautiful uppercuts, and he was also more active. In every area he (Bowe) was superior. Evander, when he was not in training, he was only about 204 pounds. In fact, he and I wore the same size pants, I was a 34 inch waist and he was a 34. But Evander convinced me to do this, and I thought this would be one of my roughest fights ever, because Evander was inferior in every way. So I trained him for a style of beating Bowe with speed and rhythm, punching and moving, in and out, in and out, to neutralize all of his (Bowe’s) other advantages and never staying in too long. The fact that Holyfield didn’t like to spar, contrary to what people think (he sparred a total of 36 rounds), meant I had to work on the pads with him and try to simulate Bowe for a lot of rounds each day. I was totally worn down, as I was training a lot myself, but we trained for victory and got it.

Then naturally, training Oliver McCall (against Lennox) when Don King sent him to me, and no one figured he could win. At the time, the knock on Lennox Lewis was he was all about the right hand and we could take advantage of that. So I practiced with him over and over and over again on beating Lennox to the punch and keeping him from throwing his right hand. It worked perfect.

Another one was the second fight with Alexis Arguello and Arron Pryor, when Pryor asked me to train him. He was afraid going into the rematch with Arguello because Panama Lewis had been arrested and put in jail at the time, and he was the guy who trained him for the first fight, and even though he never admitted it in so many words, he told me that they were basically getting by with some kind of things that were not legal. So I said, “Well, I will show you how to beat Alexis, but we will beat him by using technique and then you won’t be hit by all those big punches. You know, you’re not going to come to me at the end of the round and where I’ll have something to give you in the drink. We’re going beat him by using different types of techniques.” In two and a half weeks of training, I was able to get him to the fight where it didn’t get that much notice, but he came in totally different with a haircut and a nice white outfit instead of that regular stuff. So I spent a lot of time with him, not just training, but also mentally and psychologically because I knew him well from the amateurs. I was right here in Michigan, so I used to catch him around a lot. So he knew that I knew his style, and he could box pretty good even though he was only five foot six. That was one of proudest moments I had, too, and I thought he fought a great fight without having to resort to any other things just by using his technique and boxing skills.

But those are some of my proudest moments that I have had. It’s usually about winning fights when you are not expected to win, especially. I have been very fortunate to be training on the top level since 1980, and it’s almost 2010 now, which means almost 30 years of being on the top level in big fights. I’m still with the heavyweight champion of the world, but I’ve been very, very blessed, though.

Q: It’s interesting you mention it, because I just recently saw that Pryor-Arguello rematch on ESPN Classic.

Very smart fight. You know, the first fight was a vicious fight with him going head-to-head, flying back and running to get that bottle and all of that. The rematch, he was totally dressed differently—but nobody noticed a lot of these different things, though. If you noticed, he was slipping, picking punches, and he knocked Arguello down in the first round, and that’s when Arguello said he knew he couldn’t beat him, because he was a different fighter in this fight. Very smart fight, and that was something where no one expected him to fight that type of a fight. He was used to just throwing a lot of punches and wearing someone out, and I told him, “We’re not going to do that this time.”

You know, the one thing I’ve learned in training with any fighter I worked with is that you don’t try to make drastic changes with him—you can’t do that. I will try to work with him in his own style and make slight adjustments, because something had to be working to get him to where he was already if he was a top fighter. If a guy’s coming in and trying to change these fighters completely, it’s a big mistake. If you have a fighter who’s been successful, you don’t try to come in and change everything about him. I see a lot of guys doing that, but if a guy has a certain style, it may not be the way that I would train my fighters, but his style is his style, and Hearns is a good example.

I still had him being a busy fighter, but just a little bit more defensive and a little bit more slipping and moving, and a little more upper body movement. When a guy comes in and tries to make drastic changes I think is stupid. Wladimir is still a lot like he was, I just refined him, and with Lennox Lewis the same thing. I even trained Alexis Arguello for a couple of fights, and Alexis was a phenomenal puncher with tremendous follow-through. He wasn’t that good on his feet making pivots or whatever, but he was one of the most patient fighters with very good defense and tremendous follow-through power. You cannot take in a fighter and completely change him. Holyfield was the same way when I had him, he still put those beautiful combinations together but I just had him pick up a little more in-and-out movement, and that’s enough. Chavez, when I trained him, I never tried anything drastic. I had him box a little bit more and I was very amazed by his boxing ability. So I asked him one day, “How come you never box like this when you fight?” He did it with a couple of guys, but he said, “Look at who I’m fighting. Camacho and Medric Taylor—these guys are so fast that I have to be aggressive, but I can box when I have to.” And in training him, I was able to pick up a lot of good training techniques from him.

I learn from the fighters, too. Whenever I work with any fighter I’ll have my suggestion, and we’ll sit down and discuss it. I will discuss it and with a lot of these guys, they have been successful before. Like with Chavez, he never really had a real trainer, and I was amazed by this. He was basically a self-trained fighter. So when training him, I helped him become a little more accurate with his punches and improved the balance a little bit where his weight wasn’t so much forward all the time. Other than that, I didn’t want to make any drastic changes because he had already had over 90 something fights, he was a great fighter, and he had only lost that one fight. So whatever I did, I trained him within that same style, and that’s been one of things that’s helped me in so many different situations.

Q: Changing things up a bit Manny, I’m curious, what is your opinion on the upcoming mega bout between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto?

On the fight between Miguel Cotto and Pacquiao, I still think that Cotto is physically a very strong fighter, but I think he should not fight with his defense being the way it has been before. A lot of people are maybe underestimating the physical size of Cotto. What’s been so amazing about Pacquiao that I love so much from the first time I saw him about five years ago, he’s been fighting top notch everything. He’s never dodged anyone and he is what we call a “true pure born fighter”. He has the instincts of a fighter, the balance, the timing, the stamina—everything—and it’s just natural. He’s a fighter! If anyone was ever born to be a fighter, it would be a guy like him or (Roberto) Duran, but he’s better because he has great rhythm, and his defense and timing are a lot better than people think. When you really watch him, he’s got good in-and-out motion where you really can’t time him, but he’s been in there against a lot of good fighters: Morales, Barrera, we can go on and on and on. He’s never dodged anyone.

I think he is still a natural 130-135 pound fighter. That’s his real true weight. The fights are being made now because a lot of the marquee fighters that are attractive—dream fights—are what he wants to make. But he is still a junior lightweight to lightweight fighting guys who are, in this case with Miguel, a true welterweight. So the real natural weight and strength, regardless of what they weigh on those scales, is still a ten to twelve pound difference. That will be negated, though, if Miguel does not fight the right fight because a good big man always beats a good little man, and I believe that, but if the big guy gets hit a lot and doesn’t take advantage of being able to block punches and to move the little guy into a position where you can hurt him, he will have problems.

So right now, I would say everyone is so intrigued over Pacquiao, and thinks that he wins big, but I just don’t see it that way. I think that Miguel is going to have to improve his defense, in particular. His defense right up the middle—he has absolutely no defense for that, because his gloves are so wide, and fighters can punch right between his gloves. If he improves that and boxes, because he has really good boxing ability and a lot of people don’t realize that—as an amateur, and even in certain fights when he’s had to as a professional, he can box. So if he boxes and keeps his defense a little bit tighter, and if he starts banging those hard left hooks to the body on the smaller guy, this fight could be a very, very interesting fight.

It could be a tough fight for Manny, because Manny is not really a welterweight. This is why Freddie Roach, his trainer, has been very concerned. Even though he beat an Oscar, who physically wasn’t where he should have been that night—but still, that’s not Pacquiao’s fault. Manny was trained to be prepared and whatever the opponent’s shortcomings were, that’s on the opponents, not him. But Freddie knows that Manny is really not a true welterweight, and that’s why he’s trying to at least get some kind of equilibrium in those fights by making the opponents come down in weight as close to Manny as they can for balance. I think that Manny is unbelievably solid and consistent with his performances, and he has been consistent for five years and they were all in top notch fights.

Miguel has been a little inconsistent and has been in some rough fights. In the last fight with (Joshua) Clottey, I don’t criticize him the way some of the other people did because Clottey is a fighter I would not want any fighter to fight. He would have been a rough fight for Sugar Ray Leonard, for Tommy Hearns, and for any other welterweights in history. He’s that type of a guy with very tight defense, very strong, very good stamina, and the biggest advantage that you have when you fight him is that the last two rounds, oftentimes, he doesn’t punch. He’s relaxed, and when he does punch, he’s effective. For myself, I think I slightly may have had him (Clottey) ahead on rounds, but if I was a judge, I probably would have been more inclined to give it to Cotto because he won the last two rounds of the fight. I think that corner of Clottey didn’t tell him that he lost the first round. They won the first round, but regardless, because of the knock down it was a two point difference. The inexperience of them not telling him that and his tendency to just cover up caused him to lose. The point is, I respect anyone who fights Clottey. Clottey is a tough, tough guy.

Based on Miguel having such a tough fight there and Manny looking like a million dollars knocking out Ricky Hatton and Oscar, that’s why the odds are totally going out of proportion and I don’t think that’s a fair assessment. I see it as almost a toss-up fight, myself.

Q: Manny, I just have two more quick questions for you. First question, and you touched on this a bit earlier, what do you think of David Haye as a heavyweight and do you think he is going to beat Nikolai Valuev?

David Haye is not a true heavyweight, but based on what we said earlier, the heavyweight division is not loaded with super talent right now. The fact that one of your top guys, Chambers, who may be fighting Wladimir, is only about 210 pounds, and then you look at David, who’s normally around 215-220. I think he has a good chance in the heavyweight division because of his speed and explosiveness. Heavyweights are not that fast and coordinated for the most part. I think Wladimir is probably the most coordinated guy to be both big and coordinated, which is unusual.

This is why I give him a very good chance at beating Valuev. Last fight I saw with Valuev, I thought he lost to Evander. He showed that he could not handle speed or movement. For whatever reason, and I can’t put my hands on it, he is a very big oversized guy who seemingly, to me, has aged about another five years in the last year. I don’t understand it, but for whatever reason I now see a total lack of ability to move and do things, and I think David Haye’s handlers saw that. David has good speed as well as power, so if Evander can give him a hard time, moving and boxing at his age, I think David Haye has a very good chance to win the WBA heavyweight championship of the world. I would actually, in my eyes, even favor him.

Q: Now Manny, I don’t mean to put you on the spot with this last question, but I have to ask: Prime for prime, how do you think a match-up between Wladimir Klitschko and Lennox Lewis would have gone down?

(laughs)To me, that’s the most talked about match out there. That, and a match between Wladimir Klitschko and Vitali Klitschko, are the most talked about. A lot of people don’t want to say it, but those are the two biggest questions in heavyweight boxing for probably the last ten years. It’s true, and I will give you the honest truth.

To me, having been involved throughout my career with three signature fighters—which I’m very fortunate, because not too many people have that—and those were Tommy Hearns, and Lennox and Wladimir. And I would say, knowing both of those guys, I could tell you the strong points of each and you’ll have to decide who will win, because I really don’t know.

Lennox was the type of a guy that, he was considerably a much stronger man then people realized. I did have the privilege of training guys who had fought him. I trained Shannon Briggs, and the first thing he told me was, “I was just amazed at how physically strong Lennox was. I mean, when you punch him he blocks punches like he’s a big tree trunk.” He’s physically strong, and people don’t realize that. I also trained Henry Akinwande, and he told me the same thing. He said, “Lennox’s strength is what you don’t see or realize until you’re in the ring with him and he’s an extremely strong man.” Lennox, I thought, had a pretty good jab and a right hand, but his biggest advantage was that Lennox was a very physical guy, and when he had to, he could resort to being extremely physical and do what he had to do win. If he had to, he would rough you up.

I remember in the fight with Riddick Bowe in the Olympics. He realized that he had lost in the 1984 Olympics and he waited four years, and he was losing again. He actually lost the first round, and he just came storming out in that second round and just crushed Bowe. He just overpowered him. That’s one of the things about Lennox is that he could find a way to win when he had to. Then he also had the fight with Vitali. After he came back after the third or fourth round, I said, “We’re losing the fight. You’re used to being the tall guy, backing up and being out of range, but this guy is so awkward he’s hitting you with punches that you don’t see coming.” I said, “We got to go to the streets. When you jab, don’t just snap the jab—push all the way through so you can push him off balance. Throw the left hook, and if you miss with the hook, bang him to the shoulders. Just start doggin’ him now.” And Lennox was the type of guy who would look at you and say, “Okay.” We also had to do that in the (Ray) Mercer fight. Going into the last two rounds, I said the same type of thing, and Lennox was able to do a variety of things. He could become very physical when he had to and he had a variety of punches, too. He developed a good uppercut, which we used a lot, especially with guys like Vitali and Michael Grant.

Wladimir didn’t possess all those things. Some guys, they just have one or two things that they can do so well. Like Ali, for example, would just basically move and throw a one-two. He didn’t throw punches to the body, and he didn’t throw the left hook to the body, but he did things so well that just those one or two things could offset everything else. Wladimir has balance that is unlike anybody I have ever seen. His balance and positioning is great. The man is six foot six, but he has the ability to move in-and-out, in-and-out, keep his balance, and he throws straight simple punches very effectively.

Even guys who have fought him, like Chris Byrd. He said, “After the first time I lost to Wladimir I thought it was because he was bigger than me. He was bigger physically and just threw me around. After the second time we fought, I think he could have weighed 210 pounds and he would have beaten me because I could not see his punches, particularly his right hand.” He said, “He was hitting me with the jab, and his jab was so accurate that every time I tried to get set, he moved back and broke my rhythm and even though I was watching his right hand, ya know, when I got knocked down the first time, I asked my dad what he hit me with and he said ‘the right hand’. And I said but I was watching the right hand, and he never threw it.” That’s how accurate he is with his punches. Byrd couldn’t see the punches. Even though he was watching, he still never saw them when they came.

Just based on his physical size, he’s about 240 pounds, six foot six and the ability to move in and out, punch accurately, and develop good stamina and the ability to think—against Lennox? Honestly, myself, I don’t know. I really don’t know. That’s a fight that as a fan, I would have loved to have seen. It would have been a very interesting fight.

Q: Thank you, Manny. Now do you have anything else you would like to say to all of your fans out at East Side Boxing?

Well first off, I think that’s an unbelievable website and I have it programmed in everything.

But I would like to say this: A lot of people are saying that this boxing thing is dead and that it’s not the same, and that’s not true. It’s not the same, but it’s changing. It’s like so many things, like the evolution of music and everything else. I think boxing is healthy, but different. We have to realize it’s a new generation with different styles and different everything. I think the reason boxing is healthy is because we’re making so many dream matches. We don’t have any one superstar fighter who is so dominant, and the reason for that, is because the fighters are stepping up and fighting tough quality fights against each other and that didn’t used to happen.

A dominant guy like Mike Tyson was with guys who pretty much had control of all the same promotions. Now, we have all these dream fights where the networks have gotten together and promoters have put their differences aside and they’re working on sharing their profits, or whatever, and not worried about their main meal ticket. We have so many good competitive fights. Not that we have that one big super fight, but you have much more competitive fights. With guys fighting much more competitive fights, the more competitive fights you make, the chances of you having some losses on your record increases, and that’s what’s happening now. That’s what made Oscar such a big star. Oscar fought lot of the big name fights, and even though he may have lost most of them, he still fought the big fights. The Trinidad fight, the Ike Quartey fight, the Bernard Hopkins, and that’s what made him such a popular guy who reached super-stardom, because he always fought the big fights. He did make a lot of money, but he was still willing to take those risks.

The general public is now more aware of the names of everyday fighters. You mention Pacquiao, you mention Barrera, you mention Shane Mosley, and all of these fighters, Bernard Hopkins, people know these names. It’s not that it’s one or two stars like it used to be with guys like Hagler and Hearns, but the public knows so many of the fighters now. And the fights are, say what they want, unbelievable sellouts. Boxing has become so popular now that as soon as a fight is announced, tickets almost sell out right away. There were plane loads of people coming in when I went to do the Ricky Hatton and Pacquiao fight where people were coming from all over for this big event. Sometimes I’ve had some fights out there in Vegas and LA where there was not even a European fighter and planes were jam-packed with British people. We have gotten so used to going to the big fights and the big events for all of us, that we save our money, we book these tours, and we got our favorite restaurants, and boxing all these crowds are selling out or breaking all kinds of records.

We have to look at that and say, maybe there’s a big disparity between the top level and the bottom level, but the top level is where these dream fights are being made like Pacquiao and Mayweather. I mean that event, if it happens, is going to break all the records. The fact that champions are so international now is another thing. The fact that we (Americans) used to dominate everything, especially in the heavyweight division, and now you look at some of the champions you got out there and you have Nikolai Valuev, and the Klitschkos, and the Ibragimovs, and the Chagaevs….

It’s changing, and a lot of us don’t accept that, but the world is becoming more international. At one time, not having an American heavyweight champion was unheard of, but it’s happening, and maybe we don’t have the champion s that we want here—like when Joe Calzaghe came over here and beat Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones and guys like Ricky Hatton coming over here and dominating. That’s part of the change that’s coming. People are flocking from all over the world to see boxing and they’re breaking records. When Klitschko fought over in Germany, even when they changed the opponent from David Haye, a lot of British people wanted to see David but they still wanted to see a good fight. They still had about 61,000 people there.

Another thing coming up is the super middleweight tournament, and I’m so damn excited about it that if I’m not working some days, I may even fly in to go see the fights. It’s different now, but it’s a world energy that’s getting involved. If enough dream fights keep getting made, even like the Mayweather-Marquez fight is starting to pick up a little bit of buzz now, and like I said, Cotto and Pacquiao, too. These are fights that if you see these fighters fight, win or lose, they are exciting fights. These are dream fights that the public wants, and you get sellout crowds all over. So we’re going into a different era, and nobody is going to be undefeated or invincible because they are making better fights. I think boxing is healthy and is just making a big transition right now.


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Tags: interviews, emanuel steward, emanuel steward interview, Klitschko Blog

Steward Talks About Final Details Of Klitschko Haye

It looks like the final details of the heavyweight title fight between current WBO/IBF/IBO heavyweight champion Wladimir "Steelhammer" Klitschko and former cruiserweight champion turned heavyweight contender David "Hayemaker" Haye are being worked out. Wladimir Klitschko's trainer Emanuel Steward had a few short words discussing some of the final touches...

Steward On Ring Size

"Wladimir called me last night to ask what size ring we wanted to be put in the contract. I told him and he said that was all he needed to know because the deal was being finished. So based on that, it must be in its finalised stage and it must be on."

Steward On Fight Location

"It will probably be at the O2, and I'm quite sure it will be a big sell-out. That's where it needs to be. It's a high interest fight because of Haye. He's a colourful guy and an exciting fighter. He's going to make Wladimir fight and I like that. I think we're in for a very exciting fight."

Steward also thinks likes the idea of the fight between Wladimir and Haye because he thinks that Haye's style will force Wladimir to fight.

If all goes according to plan the fight will take place June 20th, 2009, and most likely at the O2 Arena.


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Technorati Tags: Wladimir Klitschko, Wladimir Klitschko Opponents, Quotes, emanuel steward, Potential Fights

Klitschko Thompson After Fight Quotes

Wladimir Klitschko Quotes

"This may sound strange to some people, but I really had great time and enjoyed myself in the ring tonight. Tony came to fight and he came to win, and I like that in a fight. I had a tough time adjusting to his awkward style, but after that the knockout punch was just a matter of time. The atmosphere in the arena was amazing, I truly love this city."

Emanuel Steward Quotes

"I always knew this would be an extremely difficult fight. Thompson is a fantastic fighter with great defensive skills. But in the end when both guys got tired it was Wladimir´s experience that made the difference."

Tony Thompson Quotes

"No matter what anybody might say: Wladimir is the best heavyweight in the world today, period. I never saw that right hand coming, it was a perfect punch. I am going back to the gym now, back to the drawing board, to regroup and get better. Hopefully I will get another title shot in the future, maybe Wlad grants me a rematch, who knows."

Steward Predicts Klitschko Stopping Thompson In 6

IBF/IBO/WBO Heavyweight Champion Wladimir Klitschko's trainer Emanuel Steward has predicted that the fight will end in Klitschko's favor in 6 rounds.

This is a quote from Steward recently:

"Wlaimdir is just too strong for Tony. He hits much harder and right now he's in excellent shape. But we still must not underestimate him. Tony's win over Luan (Krasniqi) gave him a lot of self confidence. Now he's back in Hamburg against another great name."

I also think Wladimir will be too strong for him. If Wladimir showcases his offense I don't see this one lasting more than 4. Thompson is not a bad all around fighter, but the only threat to Wladimir Klitschko isn't someone who is fairly good all around, but someone who can really punch and has that knockout power in either hand. Thompson doesn't have that kind of punching power in my opinion. However, Wladimir does, and Thompson's chin is going to get hit! Prediction: Wladimir KO by 4.

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Emanuel Steward Bio

Emanuel Steward has found success with training/managing boxers at every level of the game. He has trained a large variety of fighters including former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, showboating featherweight Prince Naseem Hamed, and currently trains WBO/IBO/IBF heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. In fact, Steward has trained over two dozen champions in his lifetime. Other big names include Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy "Hit Man" Hearns, Julio Cesar Chavez, Oscar De La Hoya, Evander Holyfield, Leon Spinks, Eddie Mustafa Muhammad and Aaron Pryor.

Emanuel Steward was born in West Virginia in 1944, and started boxing as a result of getting a pair of gloves as a gift. His father set up a lot of his early informal matches, but when his parents split he went with his mother to Detroit.

At 18 (1963) years of age he won the National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions as a bantamweight, and as an amateur, he ran up a excellent record of 94-3. He soon was anxious to become a professional, but things fell through as far as finding honest management and ended up working at the Detroit Edison Company. But, due to his nature of wanting to be in the fight game, he took a job as a trainer in 1971 as head coach of the boxing program at the Kronk Recreation Center in Detroit. The very same year the Kronk team won the Detroit Golden Gloves team title. This is the time Emaneul Steward 1st started being recognized as a top notch trainer of boxing. The following year he left the gym to become a full time manager/trainer.

In 1977, he formed ESCOT (Emanuel Steward's Champions of Tomorrow) Boxing Enterprises, Inc., and entered professional boxing with a new 18 year old fighter named Tommy Hearns. Under his guidance Tommy went on to win world titles in 5 weight classes, and this is where Emanuel Steward became known as the premier trainer in boxing.

In 1984, he developed six gold medal winners for the U.S. Olympic Team, including Pernell Whitaker, Mark Breland, Terrell Biggs, Frank Tate, Jerry Page, and Steve McCrory.

At this stage of his career he has had his hand in many different areas of boxing. Although he entered the world stage at this point, he still came back and still comes back to the Kronk gym to train and work with new fighters. He even developed his own boxing glove and improved on equipment which many boxers use. He's also a favorite commentator on HBO's World Championship Boxing and HBO Pay-Per-View coverage.

Steward's reputation continues to grow and he is now on the same stage as other famous trainers such as Angelo Dundee, Ray Arcel, Gil Clancy and Eddie Futch. He has also been named 'Trainer of the Year' and/or 'Manager of the Year' several times by the Boxing Writers Association of America, and with fighters such as Wladimir Klitschko under his belt, I'm sure his reputation in the future will continue to prosper.

Boxers Emanuel Steward Trained

Boxers Which Emanuel Steward Trained Exclusively And/Or Helped Shape As A Fighter

* Thomas Hearns
* Milton McCrory
* Gerald McClellan
* Michael Moorer
* Tony Tucker
* Jimmy Paul
* Lennox Lewis
* Wladimir Klitschko
* Duane Thomas
* Hilmer Kenty
* Leeonzer Barber
* Jesse Benavides
* Gaby Canizales

Boxers Emanuel Steward Trained Briefly

* Vitali Klitschko
* Julio Cesar Chavez
* Evander Holyfield (for 2nd Bowe fight)
* Oliver McCall (for 1st Lewis fight)
* Oscar De La Hoya
* Naseem Hamed
* Mike McCallum
* Leon Spinks
* Mark Breland
* David Braxton
* Lindell Holmes
* Vivian Harris
* Graciano Rocchigiani
* Miguel Angel Gonzalez
* Jeff Fenech
* Aaron Pryor
* Henry Akinwande
* Dennis Andries
* Eddie Mustafa Muhammad
* Jermain Taylor
* Welcome Ncita

Emanuel Steward Interview after the Wladimir Klitschko Sultan Ibragimov Title Fight February 23, 2008