Tyson Fury has fondly recounted the story of his time at the legendary Emanuel Steward’s Kronk Gym on multiple occasions over the years.
October marks ten year since the sad demise of the Hall of Fame trainer from his Detroit facility. The WBC championed him. The flight to AmericaFor tuition when he was just 21 years old.
Steward eventually tracked Fury down at the gym. Fury was just 12-0 at the moment.This man had previously coached heavyweight champions like Evander Holyfield or Lennox Lewis. He also trained the current title-holder, Wladimir Kltschko.
He also cornered Fury’s cousin Andy Lee, who encouraged him to visit.
Steward’s unique eye for talent allowed him to see champion potential in the young Fury – potential that would later be realised in glorious fashion.
Tyson was unable to stay in America since his wife Paris just gave birth to their first child, Venezuela.
But Steward was keen to keep contact and soon invited him out to Austria for a period in Klitschko’s fight camp.
Emanuel took Fury and Lee with him to Wladimir Klitschko’s campWhat happened next is something not many people seem to remember.
Klitschko resigned from his plans Derek Chisora is your fighter due to an injury, freeing Steward up to take the lead for Fury’s next bout.
Fury, 33. Described in a WBC Talks forum in 2020: “I had a fight come up on the undercard of Bernard Hopkins vs Jean Pascal in Quebec City.
“Emanuel was in my corner for that fight.
“He flew in from Austria and he flew in to Quebec City on the day of the fight.
“And he came into the changing room, he had a Hawaiian shirt on, a pair of linen trousers.
“He didn’t bring no gear with him at all, he was like, ‘Where’s my fighter? Where’s my fighter?’
“I’m like, ‘I’m here, Emanuel.’
“He said: ‘Who’s got the mits? Who’s got the bandages? Who’s got the wraps? Who’s got the scissors?’
“It was absolutely hilarious.”
The fight was put together at three weeks’ notice and Fury was initially due to face Israel Carlos Garcia.
The veteran was forced to leave due to flu, and so Zack Page (21-32-2) was brought in.
All of this was completely unnoticed because the bout took place in Canada.
Fury’s tweet announcing the news at the time went completely ignored – it seemed nobody back home in the UK was paying much attention.
They would eventually lose, as history was made December 18, 2010 with a future champion guided by a legend coach for one night.
Fury continued: “We went out there and he was in the corner.
“Him being in the corner, it was almost like a confidence booster.
“And the information that he gave me was so crystal clear and short to follow, easy to follow.”
Although the Brit was able to win all eight rounds, he did inflict injuries on his American opponent. But the skilled journeyman prevailed and won the game.
With the crowd quiet, waiting for the main event, Steward’s encouraging shouts of, ‘there ya go,’ could be heard on TV broadcast whenever Fury landed a crisp jab.
The trainer told his fighter, in between rounds, to use his strengths, be rangy, and be less predictable.
Fury used this advice to catch Page off guard and launch more uppercuts.
The scorecards were read out as a unanimous decision victory with the ‘Gypsy King’ winning every round to move to 13-0.
Fury concluded: “After that fight, Emanuel wanted me to go to Detroit and train with him and follow him around with his commitments all over the world.
“I couldn’t do it, I wasn’t in the position to travel up and down the world with Emanuel and be away from my wife and kids at that time.
“So I said, ‘Listen, I can’t do this, I have to go back home.’
“I said, ‘I understand I’m only a prospect coming up, I know you can’t put your full time into me, but hopefully in the future we’ll get to work together again and I will become heavyweight champion one day.’
“And he said, ‘I’d love that.’
“That was the last time I saw Emanuel Steward.
“He passed away, God rest his soul, maybe a year later [on 25 October, 2012].”
Fury was never able to work full-time with Steward but he did not forget his short Kronk Gym training.
While in Detroit he also met and trained with Emanuel’s nephew, and Apprentice SugarHill Steward
Fury named SugarHill his new coach nine years later, having parted ways with Ben Davison.
The pair collaborated in February 2020. Deontay Wilder is crownedAnd he won the WBC Heavyweight title. He defended it a year later in Oct 2021.
A decade after the story linking their two names began, ‘Fury’ and ‘Steward’ now sit together at the top of the boxing world with Oleksandr Usyk possibly standing in the way of being crowned an undisputed heavyweight champion.
