The last conversation I had with Emanuel Steward was about Ricky Womack, a talented amateur boxer from Detroit who looked certain to be part of the 1984 U.S. Olympic boxing team until he was beaten by a little known light heavyweight named Evander Holyfield. Womack was the kind of fighter who struck fear in opponents, but he also had a dark side. He was a habitual thief.
Yet Steward gave him every opportunity to succeed. He took him into his home, gave him money and tried to offer guidance. But Womack shot someone in the leg while robbing a video store, using a car registered to Steward. He spent 18 years in prison before committing suicide in 2002.
“Sometimes some people can’t help what they do,” Steward said of Womack. “It’s just in their DNA.”
It was in Steward’s DNA to help people, especially young kids trying to better themselves through boxing. He founded the famed KRONK gym and became a Hall of Fame trainer of champions: Hilmer Kenty, Thomas Hearns, Holyfield, Oscar De La Hoya, Lennox Lewis, Wladimir Klitschko and a host of others. But his most endearing quality was his humility.
At the Manny Pacquiao-Timothy Bradley fight in May in Las Vegas, a young reporter covering his first boxing event came up to me and asked what the protocol was for interviewing Steward, who was across the room. “Just walk up to him and introduce yourself,” I told him.
He did, and Steward gave him all the time he needed. That’s what he did when I first met him 1985 as a cub reporter working for The Commercial Appeal in Memphis. I covered the city’s boxing circuit, and Steward brought a few of his KRONK fighters in for an MSG broadcast from Beale Street. He was as friendly and approachable then as he was more than 15 years later when I was covering boxing for The Post. Steward treated everyone the same: with respect.
He took your phone calls even when you had tough questions. If you needed insight, he offered it without pointing blame at someone else. He was a man’s man.
HBO will present a video tribute to Steward during its “Boxing After Dark” telecast tonight. He had worked as a boxing analyst for the network since 2001, offering accurate, understated commentary. The tribute is one of many being offered since Steward died Thursday at the age of 68 after a brief illness. It’s a stunning loss for the boxing community, a lost link to a great era when Hearns, Ray Leonard, Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran did battle.
One of my favorite Steward stories is when he warned Don King not to match Mike Tyson with Holyfield: “When they finally made the fight, I told Don at the press conference, ‘You made a big mistake putting Mike in there with Evander.’ Don said, ‘Man, we can hardly get the guy licensed. We’re just worried about Mike killing him.’ ”
Steward then told King, “If Evander doesn’t do anything else in his life, he’s going to beat Mike’s [butt]. This is a fight he damn sure is going to win. He’s obsessed with beating Mike.”
It was one of many fight outcomes Steward accurately predicted.
RIP, my friend.