Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Emanuel Steward and Kronk

Recently, the sixth anniversary of Emanuel Steward's passing arrived and I was surprised to see that I didn't write a full post when the master of the Kronk dynasty.

This wasn't surprising for boxing reasons, but for personal reasons.
I never met the late Emanuel Steward, but I was likely the biggest "mark" for the Kronk team outside of Detroit and I'd wager that had I met him as an adult, I'd be more likely to be more of a star-struck 12 or 13-year-old than an adult boxing fan.

In the early 80's, I had almost an entire wall filled with the centerfold's that were in each month's issue of KO Magazine (Steve Farhood of Showtime boxing was the editor and since Fightheads was fortunate enough to have Al Bernstein and Steve Kim sit in for past shows, Farhood would be the one person that I would want to sit and talk with most) and in the most prominent spot was reserved for the Kronk team- Milton McCrory, Mike McCallum, Jimmy Paul and the kingpin of all- Thomas "the Hitman" Hearns.
I had other Kronk fighters too like Duane Thomas, Steve McCrory, David Braxton and more from pictures cut from magazines in collages that I made.
Weekend boxing was the highlight of my week and I was such a fan that in the days before VCR's, I would lug a small black and white TV to my spring/summer job announcing baseball games to watch the network fights while I called the games!
I remember one time when in a rain delay, I sat the PA microphone beside the tv for a "live network audio" call of the Milton McCrory-Roger Stafford fight!


I remember when Steward was attempting a satellite training center in Phoenix "Kronk West" and the team was selling shirts and things like that from an ad in Ring Magazine.
I quickly bought one (I would have loved a Kronk jacket, but that was WAY out of what I could afford) and wore the shirt a lot, before losing it in gym class when I forgot it.
It had to stand out in rural Western Maryland to have a kid wearing an inner-city boxing team shirt and I did receive plenty of comments.
Usually, it was either "Where did you get THAT?" from boxing fans (much larger in number then ) or "What is a Kronk"? (Non-Boxing Fans).

While, I rooted passionately for Kronk Boxing, which to this day is the only boxing "stable" that really embraced the team concept (PBC tries, but really cannot totally use it because they eventually will have to fight each other), I rooted for other fighters as well and that occasionally led to problems.
Most notably Thomas Hearns-Roberto Duran, but also Milton McCrory-Donald Curry and others.
I was a big fan of the team, but especially Emanuel Steward, who trained and managed the team.

Steward seemed to be a thoughtful person that looked into character (or in some cases, rehabilitating some 'characters') yet was street smart enough not to be fooled.
A boxing person that remembered and used the past, yet embraced the future, I always wished that I could have just sat down and listened to him talk about the game.

Steward was also one of the best commentators in the game for HBO as a semi-regular filling in on an as-needed basis.
Far superior to George Foreman, Roy Jones or whomever he was replacing, Steward not only brought an "in the corner" perspective, but Steward also related to the boxing fan with an enthusiasm for the fight that the fan watching at home could "feel" like it was one of them watching the bout.
I know most fans remember Steward's memorable call during Mickey Ward-Arturo Gatti, Ramon used Steward's call of that round nine as part of the lead-in to "FightHeads" for years, but for me, Steward's call of the final round of the Vassily Jirov-James Toney cruiserweight battle was just as good.
Both fighters needing a big final and Toney seeming to need a knockdown to pull the fight out on the cards (the fight was much closer than the ridiculously lopsided scores), Steward's passion for the game (and perhaps with some extra for knowing Toney well personally) jumped through the screen and into the viewer.
Steward's excitement wasn't the same as the Mauro Ranallo excitement that often seems like he did plenty of research and wants to make sure he slams it into the broadcast, it was coming from a passion for the game and flowed naturally through the fight.
I always left watching Steward's HBO appearances feeling like I knew more than when I started, which is what you should hope to feel every time that you watch a broadcast, but seldom actually do.

Emanuel Steward is missed in the boxing game by those that were fortunate enough to know him, but from his commentary and frankness, he might be missed just as much by those that didn't.
In a time that boxing is growing again, yet filled with fractures from various promoters and television platforms that seem more interested in being on their own than making the best fights, Emanuel
Steward's voice would have been a major help in building a bridge to enable the best to fight the best.



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