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The Legacy of Emanuel Steward: W. Klitschko
Some really deep Wlad's insight regarding Emanuel Steward
At the end of the day I understood about the life of Emanuel Steward. It’s not about your legacy as a worker or what he achieved, but at the end of the day it’s a legacy about what kind of person he was, and I haven’t met one single person in my life that has said any single bad word about Emanuel Steward or had bad experiences with Emanuel Steward. He was so international, and with this amazing gift that he had he could understand people. There are a lot of examples of people just misunderstanding each other, and Emanuel Steward was ahead of everything. He was so practical and so simple in different ways, simple to copy, simple to understand, and he was flexible to understand a lot of different people. It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from. That’s such a gift that not every person has, you know even if you can speak different languages. But he would find a way. He was just understanding like, “I hear you. I see you. I understand you” and he really meant it, which was probably the simple key for him to work with so many different characters in the sport of boxing, and he was getting along with them, and in a short period of time he was fine-tuning them to make them successful at their work. It’s just something that I haven’t seen in any person that I’ve met. I met a lot of people in this world, but this quality I haven’t seen in any person that I’ve come across.
It was amazing art work. Each time we were writing a script, which we kept continuing to do, writing a script before the fight in the preparations, because we were analyzing my opponents as good as we can, and then we played the script in the fight! It was exactly! There were no surprises, there was nothing that could stop me from winning the fights. It’s something that I’m going to savor all of my life, not just in the sport of boxing. Emanuel has feelings in my mind.
The journey is nothing to compare with anything. It makes me so proud when you really stand up and you show the opposite style of what people were thinking of you. He makes you do something so it’s easy to do that, and it’s very simple. You know there are a lot of things that sound complicated, but he simplified it. Emanuel simplified it, and if you had the quality of a champion—if you have the quality of a champion, and he’s seen it! He’s seen it from other guys. Either you have this gene or you don’t have this gene. He said all of the champions they have this mean side in them. Not that they’re bad people, but they have this. To be champion you have to have this ego, an ego that is big and tough. You got to be bad-ass! That’s actually what he was telling me, but not a bad-ass in the way of a bad person. Like one of the lines, you have to learn how to fight when you’re tired, and if you don’t have the champion’s gene you can’t do that. It’s impossible. That’s what he would say, “You have to learn to fight when you’re tired”. That’s what I’m learning in all my preparations with fourteen rounds of sparring. In a fight, when I’m tired in the sparring sessions that’s how you learn, that’s how you proceed, and if you’re not a bad-ass you’re going to give up. So if you’re a champion and you have this ego, so you can keep on going, and I believe that’s actually different I believe in the guys that he’s seen. Either they have this talent and they have this gene, or they don’t. You can learn it, but you have to have it inside. So you have to kind of, you got to have it!
The first fight against Peter was a milestone, because I was on the way down and I was called a “Dead Man Walking” from Peter’s Camp and Samuel Peter was one of the rising stars. He was killing people in the ring. He had a high percentage of knockouts. Almost all of his fights he won by knockout, and I remember after each fight Samuel Peter was screaming, “Who next?” He meant who’s next, but with his dialect he was screaming “Who-Ne’! Who-ne’” and then he was like, “Klitschko’s next!”
It was like whatever, and he was number one and wanted to become a champion. He was number one in two different versions, and I knew that I could beat this man. I had him as a sparring partner when I was a champion, and when he was younger he was strong, he was incredibly motivated and pumped up, and I knew that if I wanted to show that I am the man in the division I have to fight this guy. It was desire, and Emanuel and I were on the same page, and it was like, “Come on! Let’s do it. You know let’s take it, let’s take this guy, and I know I can do it”.
We were preparing very hard in the Poconos Mountains in Pennsylvania. We were training hard. We had like fifteen sparring partners that were coming and going up to camp. They were coming in with a big head, getting busted up in the ring, and then they were leaving back home, because they thought that this Klitschko is something that is easy to knock but they saw the opposite. Anyway, they were great preparation and in this camp in this preparation and after the fight, we got in closer with Emanuel. We just got to know each other on an extreme side, because it was an extreme fight.
Believe it or not, the monster has been created and Emanuel is with me. Even if he is not there he is with me. He is whispering in my ear as soon as I’m getting in the gym. Even if he was making these preparations for this fight, I am Emanuel Steward. I know how he thinks. I know what he would say. I hear his voice whispering in my ear while I am doing sparring. I am Emanuel Steward in a certain way, because he shaped the size of my character and my presence in this world as I am, through Emanuel. And I feel this before when I worked with Emanuel. I finally could see Lennox Lewis, because Lennox Lewis is also Emanuel Steward. He’s a part of Emanuel Steward, and Tommy Hearns and everyone else.
He’s with me. He’s in my heart and in my mind, and there is nothing that can affect my career with the line or a question, “How are going to do without Emanuel Steward?”
I am with Emanuel Steward. I am Emanuel Steward in a certain portion in a certain way. And Johnathon Banks has done such a great job to step in and do whatever Emanuel showed to our team as a fighter. Johnathon Banks grew up in Emanuel’s house. He was living in Emanuel’s house, breathing his mind in of understanding his life and boxing. That’s why with my team we will continue the work that Emanuel started, and there is nothing that can stop us. Nothing! There is nobody that can stop us as long as we’re motivated, which we are, and as long as we are going to enter the ring, and as long as I’m going to hold those titles, and as long as I’m existing in my life—Emanuel Steward is in my heart, and there is nothing that can stop us.
He was an incredibly smart man, I mean incredibly smart man.
“Okay Wladimir. Listen. I’m 67-68 and what do you think? I haven’t stopped learning! I’m learning every day. Every day! There are so many smart people around me, there are so many smart fighters, and some fighters are smarter than their trainers. The trainers have no ability to understand their fighters, to listen to them. They’re like too conservative, and I’m learning every day. I’m learning every day! Every day! Every day I’m going out, every day I’m hitting the gym, every day I’m talking to people. I’m learning every day, Wladimir!”
So that’s what he was saying. You know the thing is it doesn’t matter how old you are. You just learn. You don’t get stubborn and say, “I know what life is about, and back off!”
And he said one line which describes him perfectly, what a wizard he is. Every person, he said, “Wlad! Every person has certain qualities. Recognize it! See it! Use it! Don’t kill it all at once”.
So he was looking around the corner at every person. He didn’t judge, like this man is good and this man is bad. He was always kind of taking a step back like, “Hmmm”. You know, you got to take a particular look. You just back off, and “Hmmm”, and analyze it. You know and then think ten steps ahead, but one step just to back off just to let him see.
There is one magical word and one magical power that does magical things in life, and that’s the love. Emanuel taught me how to actually love things. I never loved boxing. Ever. Never. I didn’t know so much about boxing before I met Emanuel, but since I started to work with him I fell in love with the sport, because such people as Emanuel Steward were involved. Unfortunately there are not always positive examples in our sport, but this man put a better light on this beautiful, beautiful and wonderful sport, that people can accept and understand how beautiful it is, and Emanuel was one of the angels of the sport that brought it over to the public eye, and not just for boxing fans, just to the people in general that never knew anything about boxing. He made this sport as glamorous as Muhammad Ali.
He put a better light to the sport, which is not possible to even give a price for. It’s priceless what he achieved aside from his achievements as a coach. He just made the sport of boxing better than it could be to the people that are not involved in the sport, and of course the people that are involved in the sport.
I just can’t say thank you for putting love in my heart for this sport of boxing, because without love I would never ever go as far as I went. I’m not done yet, but I would have never accomplished that. So I’m just thankful to him for, as I said, this magical word that does magic to “love” and cherish what you do and to appreciate what you do, and that’s what he did for boxing.
At the end of the day I understood about the life of Emanuel Steward. It’s not about your legacy as a worker or what he achieved, but at the end of the day it’s a legacy about what kind of person he was, and I haven’t met one single person in my life that has said any single bad word about Emanuel Steward or had bad experiences with Emanuel Steward. He was so international, and with this amazing gift that he had he could understand people. There are a lot of examples of people just misunderstanding each other, and Emanuel Steward was ahead of everything. He was so practical and so simple in different ways, simple to copy, simple to understand, and he was flexible to understand a lot of different people. It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from. That’s such a gift that not every person has, you know even if you can speak different languages. But he would find a way. He was just understanding like, “I hear you. I see you. I understand you” and he really meant it, which was probably the simple key for him to work with so many different characters in the sport of boxing, and he was getting along with them, and in a short period of time he was fine-tuning them to make them successful at their work. It’s just something that I haven’t seen in any person that I’ve met. I met a lot of people in this world, but this quality I haven’t seen in any person that I’ve come across.
It was amazing art work. Each time we were writing a script, which we kept continuing to do, writing a script before the fight in the preparations, because we were analyzing my opponents as good as we can, and then we played the script in the fight! It was exactly! There were no surprises, there was nothing that could stop me from winning the fights. It’s something that I’m going to savor all of my life, not just in the sport of boxing. Emanuel has feelings in my mind.
The journey is nothing to compare with anything. It makes me so proud when you really stand up and you show the opposite style of what people were thinking of you. He makes you do something so it’s easy to do that, and it’s very simple. You know there are a lot of things that sound complicated, but he simplified it. Emanuel simplified it, and if you had the quality of a champion—if you have the quality of a champion, and he’s seen it! He’s seen it from other guys. Either you have this gene or you don’t have this gene. He said all of the champions they have this mean side in them. Not that they’re bad people, but they have this. To be champion you have to have this ego, an ego that is big and tough. You got to be bad-ass! That’s actually what he was telling me, but not a bad-ass in the way of a bad person. Like one of the lines, you have to learn how to fight when you’re tired, and if you don’t have the champion’s gene you can’t do that. It’s impossible. That’s what he would say, “You have to learn to fight when you’re tired”. That’s what I’m learning in all my preparations with fourteen rounds of sparring. In a fight, when I’m tired in the sparring sessions that’s how you learn, that’s how you proceed, and if you’re not a bad-ass you’re going to give up. So if you’re a champion and you have this ego, so you can keep on going, and I believe that’s actually different I believe in the guys that he’s seen. Either they have this talent and they have this gene, or they don’t. You can learn it, but you have to have it inside. So you have to kind of, you got to have it!
The first fight against Peter was a milestone, because I was on the way down and I was called a “Dead Man Walking” from Peter’s Camp and Samuel Peter was one of the rising stars. He was killing people in the ring. He had a high percentage of knockouts. Almost all of his fights he won by knockout, and I remember after each fight Samuel Peter was screaming, “Who next?” He meant who’s next, but with his dialect he was screaming “Who-Ne’! Who-ne’” and then he was like, “Klitschko’s next!”
It was like whatever, and he was number one and wanted to become a champion. He was number one in two different versions, and I knew that I could beat this man. I had him as a sparring partner when I was a champion, and when he was younger he was strong, he was incredibly motivated and pumped up, and I knew that if I wanted to show that I am the man in the division I have to fight this guy. It was desire, and Emanuel and I were on the same page, and it was like, “Come on! Let’s do it. You know let’s take it, let’s take this guy, and I know I can do it”.
We were preparing very hard in the Poconos Mountains in Pennsylvania. We were training hard. We had like fifteen sparring partners that were coming and going up to camp. They were coming in with a big head, getting busted up in the ring, and then they were leaving back home, because they thought that this Klitschko is something that is easy to knock but they saw the opposite. Anyway, they were great preparation and in this camp in this preparation and after the fight, we got in closer with Emanuel. We just got to know each other on an extreme side, because it was an extreme fight.
Believe it or not, the monster has been created and Emanuel is with me. Even if he is not there he is with me. He is whispering in my ear as soon as I’m getting in the gym. Even if he was making these preparations for this fight, I am Emanuel Steward. I know how he thinks. I know what he would say. I hear his voice whispering in my ear while I am doing sparring. I am Emanuel Steward in a certain way, because he shaped the size of my character and my presence in this world as I am, through Emanuel. And I feel this before when I worked with Emanuel. I finally could see Lennox Lewis, because Lennox Lewis is also Emanuel Steward. He’s a part of Emanuel Steward, and Tommy Hearns and everyone else.
He’s with me. He’s in my heart and in my mind, and there is nothing that can affect my career with the line or a question, “How are going to do without Emanuel Steward?”
I am with Emanuel Steward. I am Emanuel Steward in a certain portion in a certain way. And Johnathon Banks has done such a great job to step in and do whatever Emanuel showed to our team as a fighter. Johnathon Banks grew up in Emanuel’s house. He was living in Emanuel’s house, breathing his mind in of understanding his life and boxing. That’s why with my team we will continue the work that Emanuel started, and there is nothing that can stop us. Nothing! There is nobody that can stop us as long as we’re motivated, which we are, and as long as we are going to enter the ring, and as long as I’m going to hold those titles, and as long as I’m existing in my life—Emanuel Steward is in my heart, and there is nothing that can stop us.
He was an incredibly smart man, I mean incredibly smart man.
“Okay Wladimir. Listen. I’m 67-68 and what do you think? I haven’t stopped learning! I’m learning every day. Every day! There are so many smart people around me, there are so many smart fighters, and some fighters are smarter than their trainers. The trainers have no ability to understand their fighters, to listen to them. They’re like too conservative, and I’m learning every day. I’m learning every day! Every day! Every day I’m going out, every day I’m hitting the gym, every day I’m talking to people. I’m learning every day, Wladimir!”
So that’s what he was saying. You know the thing is it doesn’t matter how old you are. You just learn. You don’t get stubborn and say, “I know what life is about, and back off!”
And he said one line which describes him perfectly, what a wizard he is. Every person, he said, “Wlad! Every person has certain qualities. Recognize it! See it! Use it! Don’t kill it all at once”.
So he was looking around the corner at every person. He didn’t judge, like this man is good and this man is bad. He was always kind of taking a step back like, “Hmmm”. You know, you got to take a particular look. You just back off, and “Hmmm”, and analyze it. You know and then think ten steps ahead, but one step just to back off just to let him see.
There is one magical word and one magical power that does magical things in life, and that’s the love. Emanuel taught me how to actually love things. I never loved boxing. Ever. Never. I didn’t know so much about boxing before I met Emanuel, but since I started to work with him I fell in love with the sport, because such people as Emanuel Steward were involved. Unfortunately there are not always positive examples in our sport, but this man put a better light on this beautiful, beautiful and wonderful sport, that people can accept and understand how beautiful it is, and Emanuel was one of the angels of the sport that brought it over to the public eye, and not just for boxing fans, just to the people in general that never knew anything about boxing. He made this sport as glamorous as Muhammad Ali.
He put a better light to the sport, which is not possible to even give a price for. It’s priceless what he achieved aside from his achievements as a coach. He just made the sport of boxing better than it could be to the people that are not involved in the sport, and of course the people that are involved in the sport.
I just can’t say thank you for putting love in my heart for this sport of boxing, because without love I would never ever go as far as I went. I’m not done yet, but I would have never accomplished that. So I’m just thankful to him for, as I said, this magical word that does magic to “love” and cherish what you do and to appreciate what you do, and that’s what he did for boxing.
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