![]() At the time, he did not think Haye would ever actually step into the ring with Wlad. I remember speaking with Emanuel about a year ago on the “When will David Haye and Wlad actually fight?” subject, and Emanuel was glum. And as I like to say, ‘Welcome to the lion’s den David’.” When he (Haye) is standing in the ring come fight night, and he sees this huge man in a red robe coming out of the tunnel, surrounded by smoke, with big brother Vitali standing directly behind his (Wlad’s) shoulder wanting to get at him, all these emotions are going to spawn reality. When asked about Haye’s intimidation factors he replied, “Wladimir looks into David’s eyes when he talks all that mess and just sees fear. Wladimir is a big fighter and he will fight big and there is no doubt that he will knock David Haye cold.” When probed about strategy, Steward said, “Just think what (George) Foreman did to (Ken) Norton (KO 2), or what Tommy did to Duran (KO 2). I feel the same way I did before Lennox Lewis’ fight with Mike Tyson or Tommy Hearns before his fight with (Roberto) Duran, and when I feel THIS GOOD, everything’s OK.” Haye thinks we’re worried about him? THAT is a joke! I have never seen Wladimir in such a great state of mind. “Well Phil”, stated Steward, “The press conference was only about 4-hours ago. Haye bad-mouthed the Klitschko brothers, insulted Steward and angered elder Klitschko Vitali. My partner-in-the-world-of-scribes, Scoop Malinowski had just e-mailed me footage of today’s press conference. It’s June 27th and my good friend and trainer of champions, Emanuel Steward took his precious time to field a phone call from yours truly to comment on Saturday’s blockbuster Heavyweight Championship and unification bout between Wladimir Klitschko and David Haye. “I will miss our time together.I just hung the phone up. “It is not often that a person in any line of work gets a chance to work with a legend.… I was privileged enough to work with one for almost a decade,” Klitschko said. Klitschko has trained without Steward for his title defense against Mariusz Wach next month in Germany. With Steward presiding over a “168-hours-a-week” training program in which he’d often sleep in the same room and share meals with his fighters, then train, watch film and engage in “talking, talking, talking,” Lampley said, Lewis developed to defeat Mike Tyson in 2002. Many fighters relied on Steward’s wisdom. Losing him from my life, I’m very hurt today.” Emanuel Steward is the man who taught me how to adapt, how to deal with all the different situations. “Through the good times, the difficult times, he was there for me. “I was like the son he never had,” Hearns said Thursday of Steward. In a fight often regarded as the greatest three-round bout in the sport’s history, Hearns blasted Hagler in the opening seconds, but suffered a broken right hand on his first punch, delivering what Lampley described as “the perfect step-over right cross.”Ī hurt and cut Hagler regrouped and rallied for the third-round knockout. “Now you won’t have any legs tonight, so you’ll just have to run at him and try to knock him out,” Steward said to Hearns. ![]() Steward returned to find one of the people massaging Hearns’ legs, a “terrible mistake,” Steward recounted to Lampley. In his absence, some Detroit friends entered. Steward left Hearns’ side briefly in the pre-fight training room to tend to some errands. Hearns gained another mega-bout against Marvin Hagler. Hearns was leading on all three judges’ score cards when Leonard launched a stirring rally that concluded with a 14th-round technical knockout. The next year Hearns, who developed under Steward’s hand from scrawny “Motor City Cobra” to “Hitman,” battled Sugar Ray Leonard in a highly anticipated super-fight. In 1980, Hilmer Kenty became Steward’s first champion. “His favorite quote was, ‘Who would’ve thought I’d leave West Virginia to find a gym for troubled, inner-city kids in Detroit and train an Irish middleweight, Andy Lee, and a Ukrainian heavyweight, Klitschko?’” Lampley said. ![]()
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