Emanuel Steward Says Wladimir Klitschko Will Be In The Hall Of Fame One Day – Just Like Lennox Lewis

Klitschko Chagaevby James Slater – As fans know, former heavyweight king Lennox Lewis has just been inducted into the prestigious Hall of Fame in Canastota. It could certainly be argued that had Lewis never been trained by Emanuel Steward – who is also enshrined in The Hall – he wouldn’t have got there. Seeing Emanuel take over as his coach after being shocked inside two-rounds in a upset against Oliver McCall, Lennox went on to score his most impressive victories.

Today, Steward trains the man who is seen as the best big man in the sport, in Wladimir Klitschko, and Emanuel says he sees plenty of similarities between Klitschko and Lewis. Steward also says the very same negativity Lewis had to listen to from the critics is what those people who are turned off by Wladimir are saying about him today.

“We had the same criticisms of Lennox that we get now with Wladimir,” Steward told The Times newspaper. “There are a lot of similarities between the two. They are only as good as the guys put in front of them let them be. Americans have given up on the heavyweights because they don’t dominate it, but I think they are coming round to Wladimir now..

“Vitali’s fight with Lennox made him a big, big hero there. Wladimir has not had that fight yet. He needs some devastating performances.”

Perhaps the current IBF and WBO champion will put on such a devastating display against Ruslan Chagaev this Saturday, and win himself the vacant Ring magazine belt that is at stake. Steward has complete faith in his fighter, and he says he is sure Wladimir will one day be inducted into The Hall; following Lewis’ footsteps.

“It was great to see that for Lennox,” Emanuel said with reference to Lennox’s recent induction. “I have no doubt Wladimir will be in there one day. Like Lennox, Wladimir is very intelligent and a lot of the time we just talk. He used to make the same mistakes, but I think he is the complete fighter right now.

“He’s been stopped, he’s been knocked down. But he’s learnt how to clinch, how to survive. If everything is sunny all the time, you don’t learn until it rains one day. When I was with Lennox, I told him Wladimir would dominate the heavyweight division one day.”

At the moment, Wladimir must share the distinction of dominating the division with his WBC heavyweight champion brother, Vitali. But as those two will never fight (or at least we don’t think they ever will) Wladimir must continue to rule the weight class as part of a duo. Of course, unbeaten Ruslan Chagaev will have something to say about it when it comes to who is the world’s best big man, and his chances of spoiling both Steward and Klitschko’s plans cannot be ruled out.

If he keeps winning, though, maybe Wladimir will soon get the respect it took Lennox Lewis such a long time to get.