By Matthew Hurley: ESPN has reported that Emanuel Steward has stepped down as trainer for former middleweight champion Jermain Taylor. Steward was in Taylor’s corner for four fights and the results were disappointing. The then champion struggled to a draw with Winky Wright and then looked lackluster in two successful defenses against junior middleweights Kassim Ouma and Cory Spinks. Their last fight together was a knockout loss to Kelley Pavlik..
Taylor is scheduled to fight Pavlik again on February 16th, a date that would make it difficult for Steward because he has scheduled bouts on February 2nd with Kermit Cintron against Paul Williams should Cintron defeat Jesse Feliciano on November 23rd and Wladimir Klitschko against Sultan Ibragimov on February 23rd in a heavyweight unification bout. Steward maintains that there is not personal rift between fighter and trainer but the split has been long rumored, even before the loss to Pavlik.
The pairing up of Steward and Taylor at first seemed to be a blessing for the young fighter. Steward is legendary not only for guiding great fighters throughout their entire careers like Kronk legend Thomas Hearns, but taking over the reigns of flawed fighters and improving them markedly like Lennox Lewis. However, in this case, the two just didn’t seem to jell as Taylor almost immediately began regress as a fighter.
A scheduled press conference announcing the rematch between Taylor and Pavlik was scheduled for tomorrow in New York but in light of recent events, including Pavlik requiring over 100 stitches on both arms after putting them through a glass window at his home, the event was cancelled.
According to Lou Dibella there is a chance that Taylor may be trained by former trainer Pat Burns who left Taylor’s camp after the fighter’s second victory over Bernard Hopkins. Nothing official has been stated. If Burns doesn’t take over then assistant trainer and confidant Ozell Nelson may get the job.