Manny Steward - Some Recent News (RIP)

First topic message reminder :

There’s been some conflicting reports recently about Manny Steward in the media – it was first mentioned last month that Manny had cancer, a number of boxers were Tweeting “pray for Manny” and the news reached the smaller Boxing News sites. These were dismissed as Manny was diagnosed with diverticulitis (quite a severe stomach problem that can cause a number of aislements).

I saw this morning on Twitter that Manny was taken ill, however the reports don’t clarify what the issue is – As I’m in work I’m kind of limited to do any digging but thought I’d let you guys know in case you had access to more news.

I hope the guy is alright and this news I’ve seen is blown out of proportion as Manny is a great trainer and fantastic pundit in boxing.

The news is confirmed and it's sad to read, it seems Manny Steward has sadly passed away following a short battle with an undisclosed stomach condition. I'm sure we would all agree that the man has shaped the careers of more than enough Hall of Famers and legends of boxing to propel himself into the boxing record books.

He has always been one of the most respected AND respectable trainers in the sport and a real gentleman. Boxing won't be the same without him.

RIP Manny Steward. P4P one of the greatest boxing trainers to have graced this planet.

It's all over Twitter anyways... with the likes of Bunce and Calzaghe reporting it...which doesn't mean its true of course.

Union Cane wrote:

School Project wrote:

Union Cane wrote:WBN have hastily re-published their announcement with "according to Jonathan Banks" all over it.

I don't think you can find a closer source at the moment than John Banks, after all, he is Manny's protegé and will have been following the news of Manny's health very closely.

Indeed, but they went from stating it as fact to attributing it to Banks, which kind of implies that they are not so sure.

Yeah you're right!

They have changed the story since I first read it.

Maybe they're trying to contact more of Manny's people for confirmation/waiting for an official statement from his family.

Shocked.

R.I.P

Klitschko statement from fighthype:

FIGHTHYPE.COM ‏@fighthype

Wladimir's statement to the passing away of Emanuel Steward: Boxing has suffered a tremendous loss with the passing of Emanuel Steward. Vitali and I, along with the entire Team Klitschko, send our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to Emanuel's family and friends. It is not often that a person in any line of work gets a chance to work with a legend, well I was privileged enough to work with one......for almost a decade. I will miss our time together. The long talks about boxing, the world, and life itself. Most of all I will miss our friendship. My team and I will carry on with the goals we had set while Emanuel was with us because that is exactly what Emanuel would have wanted. I know he will be with us in spirit along the way and we will accomplish these goals in his honor. Rest in peace Emanuel. You will be greatly missed. Until we meet again my friend. - Wladimir Klitschko

Its not true
its not on espn

RIP Emanuel Steward...One of the best trainers of all time with a wealth of knowledge of the sport.

If this is true, I actually feel awful for some reason, I actually feel as though somebody I knew has died... He was one of my favourite people in boxing that wasn't a current boxer. Always enjoyed his commentary, a great guy and a great trainer. RIP, he truly will be missed.

Wladimir's statement to the passing away of Emanuel Steward:

Boxing has suffered a tremendous loss with the passing of Emanuel Steward.

Vitali and I, along with the entire Team Klitschko, send our deepest and most heartfelt condolences to Emanuel's family and friends.

It is not often that a person in any line of work gets a chance to work with a legend, well I was privileged enough to work with one for almost a decade.

I will miss our time together. The long talks about boxing, the world, and life itself. Most of all I will miss our friendship.

My team and I will carry on with the goals we had set while Emanuel was with us because that is exactly what Emanuel would have wanted. I know he will be with us in spirit along the way and we will accomplish these goals in his honor.

Rest in peace Emanuel. You will be greatly missed.

Until we meet again my friend.

Wladimir Klitschko

From the Klitschko facebook page.

Going by what Wladimir said it looks like the Wach fight will go ahead as planned, i hope for the Pole's sake he can keep that chin tucked away for as long as possible.

I may not like them very much, they may be the most boring heavyweights in history, but sometimes K2 ooze class.

Not surprised at the level of class the Klits have shown.

This has shocked me, I knew he was sick but this hit me for 6.

The passing of Manny has now left the HBO team completely full of clowns!!!

At least Manny leveled things out a little.

azania wrote:I may not like them very much, they may be the most boring heavyweights in history, but sometimes K2 ooze class.

Terribly sad news, is easy to go over the top when people pass and pay them tributes they ill deserve but in Steward the sport has lost one of the truly great trainers. One only has to look at either Wlad or Lennox to see the quality of his work. If someone had said when he was getting done by the likes of Brewster and Sanders Wlad would go on to be a long reigning champion who barely dropped a round you'd have been laughed out of the place. That he has done that is down in no small part to Manny. RIP

You can throw the likes of Kenty and Andries in to that bracket too, Jeff. Who'd have given them a prayer of winning world titles, never mind managing a few successful defences of them? Incredible how Steward managed to mould such unpromising raw material in to a couple of very decent world champions.

Tommy Hearns anyone?

Gypo Fury??

Great trainer and alway's came over as a gent,good to listen to when he was analysing a fight.
Lewis would never have been as good without Manny thats for sure.

monty junior wrote:Get a grip SBS

Was little more than an Internet rumour when I posted, I've edited the Jimmy Savile bit out now so you can untwist your knickers.

Another update here:

This time he isn't dead

http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/sports/emanuel-stewards-family-disheartened-by-reports-of-death

There's also reports of Klitschkos message being deleted?

This was this morning mate, the Wladimir's statement came out only an hour or so ago.

I don't know which makes me sadder...the passing of Manny Steward or the fact no-one appears to be able to say with any certainty whether he has or hasn't passed away.

What the heck is going on?

Not everyone is covering the story.

Now on Fightnews.com

RIP Manny. Another legend lost

monty junior wrote:This was this morning mate, the Wladimir's statement came out only an hour or so ago.

I've been covering this all day mate, the recent link I posted was updated 1 hour ago...

Andy Lee tweeted half an hour ago that he spoke to Manny's sister and he's still alive though in a critical condition.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/boxing/2012/10/25/reports-of-emanuel-stewards-death-premature/1657793/

http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=emanuel%20steward&source=web&cd=3&cad=rja&ved=0CC0QqQIwAg&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsports.yahoo.com%2Fblogs%2Fboxing%2Flegendary-boxing-trainer-emanuel-steward-dead-68-163944450--box.html&ei=34mJUIWPOOOy0QXdlIGIBQ&usg=AFQjCNH6W5SW0G22Rc0g27kBaAW4CN4jng

kevin iole just removed this story. i think we / you need to pray for him. obviously digging his heals in. good boy

I retract my RIP then. Hopefully he'll give the grim reaper the old one two.

Good to hear he might not be dead. One of the most universally liked characters in boxing today, which is rare.

Tom Leyden ‏@TomLeyden

Just got off the phone with Emanuel Steward's sister, Diane, who confirmed the death of her brother, age 68. Details to follow.

Boxing Scene ‏@boxingscene

Emanuel Steward sister has now confirmed that her brother passed away about half an hour ago. RIP

I don't know what to believe, but I would just like to echo the sentiments of everyone on here.

RIP Emmanuel you are a legend of boxing and even though I never even knew or met you, I am deeply saddened by this news. I have been clinging on to the hope that the reports were not true, but now I know that was just false hope.

One of the greats of the sport and you will be sorely missed. A great commentator and person, but most of all a great trainer and a true father figure to all of the fighters he trained.

Apparently he passed away in the last hour...I hope and pray that it is wrong though.

BBC Sport ‏@BBCSport

Legendary boxing trainer Emanuel Steward has died, BBC boxing commentator Mike Costello has confirmed on @bbc5live

Its confirmed on BBC news as well .

This has been a truly dark year for sport, the fighters and trainers we have lost as well as the controversies with drug abuse.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/boxing/20084057

God bless

RIP to one of the genuinely good guys of boxing, a great trainer as well who will be sorely missed.

RIP to Manny a true legend of the game

Confirmed by his family, he has now passed on, he didn't suffer and had his loved ones with him - none of us can ask for more than that. RIP

RIP, very sad news.

Seems to have been so sudden. not sure if that makes it better or worse. Sad day for boxing and for the Steward family. RIP

Lennox Lewis has had his say:

http://lennoxlewis.com/news/lennoxs-statement-on-the-death-of-emanuel-steward/

I’m completely devastated by the passing of my long time friend, mentor and trainer Emanuel “Manny” Steward. Manny has helped me get through some of the biggest fights in my career and I only regret that I couldn’t return the favour and see him through his biggest fight.

We’ve maintained a close relationship and the last time we spoke he seemed his usual upbeat self so it was very disturbing to hear about his illness and rapid decline. It is with a heavy heart that realization of what I hoped were just rumors are now in fact true. Manny always told me I was the best, but the truth is, HE was the best and I’m grateful, privileged and honoured to be counted among his many historic successes.

This has been a very tragic year for the boxing world, but today we’ve truly lost one of it’s crown jewels. Manny was giving, selfless, compassionate and stern. He always gave back to the community and never forgot where he came from. He was an institution unto himself and I’m proud to have had him in my corner for so many years.

I’m extremely grateful for the time that I was given with him and he will be severely missed by all who knew and loved him. I’ll miss his smile, his frank no holds barred truthfulness and our discussions on boxing and life. My prayers and condolences go out to his family at this very difficult time.

-Lennox Lewis

That was quite touching. Well done Lennox.

My thoughts are with his family.

Very sad news. He was obviously a legendary trainer and was always very interesting to hear his analysis and opinions during his HBO work.

Rest in peace Manny.

Incredibly sad. Boxing has lost a man with its true interests at heart. A great man and a great trainer.

Legendary trainer and one of my favourite commentators.

His reaction to Ortiz knocking down Berto in round 6 of "Ohhh maaaaa gaaaaad!" was priceless, when he got vocal it just sounded like a true fan expressing their amazement and euphoria of what was unfolding.

Trainer-wise, doesn't need anything else to add. 43 world champions (something like that), and ALOT of those are absolute ATG legends of the sport.

RIP

Nothing to add other than he seemed to be a truly nice person with a passion for the sport. When he spoke everyone listened and was respected by everyone.

He never got involved in slanging matches and I don't recall anyone speaking nagative of him which showed the respect his peers had for him.

I used to listen to him a lot on Eastside Boxing's podcast which he regulary appeared on and he always talked sense, was realistic about his own fighters and respectful of others.

Like Coxy, I always enjoyed the way that Steward seemingly forgot that he was commentating on live TV now and then, and just had that feel of an excited fan watching the drama unfold. The way he went berserk in the closing stages of the final round as Toney decked Jirov was fantastic.