When Wladimir Klitschko steps through the ropes at the O2 Arena in Hamburg, Germany, Saturday to defend his heavyweight championships, it will mark his first fight since 2004 without Hall of Fame trainer Emanuel Steward in his corner. Steward passed away last month at 68 after a short illness.
“He was a great, great friend and one of the geniuses in boxing,” said Klitschko, who will defend his IBF, WBO and WBA titles against undefeated contender Mariusz Wach of Poland. “He is not here, but we know his spirit is with us and around us. He is laughing and enjoying himself and also looking forward to that fight — I know that for sure.”
Steward is credited with turning Klitschko into the dominant champion he has been. They lost their first fight together in April 2004 and Klitschko lost a chance at the WBO title when he was stopped in the fifth round by Lamon Brewester. But Klitschko has been unbeatable since then, winning 16 straight fights and owning a piece of the heavyweight title since 2006.
“The relationship between Emanuel and me was very special — not just a regular relationship between a coach and a boxer,” Klitschko said. “I assure you of that because he respected my experience inside and out of the ring. I respected his experience outside of the ring as a coach. We actually talked more than we did pads work, making combinations or anything like that. We talked about boxing and we talked about life because life is like boxing. There are certain things that are comparable and one of them is life and the sport of boxing.”
Johnathon Banks, who worked in Klitschko’s previous camp alongside Steward, has taken over as the head trainer. They face a formidable challenge in Wach, who is 27-0 with 15 knockouts. Wach, who fights out of North Bergen, N.J., is 6-foot-7 1/2, nearly two inches taller than the 6-foot-6 Klitschko (58-3, 50 KOs), who normally towers over his opponents. The fight will be shown at 4:30 p.m. ET on EPIX and EpixHD.com as part of a free trial offer.
“Wach has the spirit of a young man that wants to become world champion,” Klitschko said. “He is very self-confident and I am expecting him to be better than he usually can be because that is his motivation — his chance to be world champion and I am expecting a very good fight from Wach.”
Klitschko (58-3, 50 KOs) met Banks the same day he met Steward nine years ago and said he expects the continuity to have continued success.
“Of course Johnathon Banks is no Emanuel Steward, he is Johnathon Banks,” Klitschko said. “Everyone has their own way of doing things and I think, considering everything, the camp went well.”
* There is plenty of boxing on HBO and Showtime Saturday night.
HBO will televise a doubleheader featuring super welterweight Vanes Martirosyan (32-0, 20 KOs) from Glendale, Calif., against Erislandy Lara (17-1-1, 11 KOs) from Cuba, and featherweight Mikey Garcia (29-0, 25 KOs) from Oxnard, Calif., battling Jonathan Barros (34-3-1, 18 KOs) from Argentina.
The action comes from the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas. Both are non-title bouts with the winners becoming the mandatory challengers in their respective divisions.
Showtime has a tripleheader: Abner Mares (24-0-1, 13 KOs) of Hawaiian Gardens, Calif., will risk his WBC Super Bantamweight title against WBA Bantamweight Super World Champion Anselmo Moreno (33-1-1, 12 KOs) of Panama City, Panama, in the main event at the Staples Center.
Unbeaten IBF Bantamweight World Champion Leo Santa Cruz (21-0-1, 12 KOs) of Los Angeles will defend against Victor Zaleta (20-2-1, 10 KOs) of El Paso, Texas, in the co-feature, and junior middleweight contender Alfred Angulo (20-1, 17 KOs) of Los Angeles faces junior middleweight contender Raul Casarez (19-2, 9 KOs), of Edinburg, Texas, in the telecast’s opening match.