Emanuel Steward, one of the most eminent boxing trainers of the modern era, whose stable of fighters included Lennox Lewis, Tommy Hearns, Evander Holyfield and Wladimir Klitschko, died on Thursday in Chicago. He was 68.
His companion, Anita Ruiz, confirmed the death, saying only that Steward had been hospitalized in Chicago for several weeks.
A coal miner’s son from West Virginia, Steward was known in particular for his long association with the Kronk Gym in Detroit. A basement boxing gym in a down-at-the-heels neighborhood, it became famous for the string of marquee names it produced under his supervision.
Steward, who eventually owned the gym, trained more than 30 world champions there and elsewhere, among them Julio César Chávez, a six-time world champion in three different weight classes; Oscar De La Hoya, who won 10 world titles in six classes; the former heavyweight champion Leon Spinks; and, most recently, Klitschko, the reigning heavyweight champion.
