Trainer Emanuel Steward seriously ill, but still alive

Mike Brudenell, USA TODAY Sports

Emanuel Steward has taught boxing to many professionals and amateurs at Detroit's Kronk Gym for years. He has most recently trained heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko.

Emanuel Steward trained great fighters out of the Kronk Gym, including Thomas Hearns
His sister said he was recently operated on for diverticulosis, a serious stomach ailment
Recent rumors said Steward was suffering from colon cancer

DETROIT -- Amid rumors circulating among the boxing fraternity that legendary Kronk Gym trainer and manager and boxing Hall of Famer Emanuel Steward had died or was on life support today, his sister Diane Steward-Jones refuted the fact.

"Emanuel is still with us," Steward-Jones told the Detroit Free Press this afternoon. "He hasn't left his room. There is no shade over his head."

Steward, 68, who guided such Detroit boxers as Thomas Hearns and Hilmer Kenty to world titles, has been in poor health for several months. He is believed to be in a Chicago-area hospital, although his family will not disclose details.

Steward-Jones said her brother, in fact, had had a Reiki -- a palm healing or hands-on-healing alternative-medicine procedure -- treatment today "to give him more energy."

Added Steward-Jones, who is with the fight icon at his hospital: "He's certainly had better days, but he is still here on planet Earth."

Steward-Jones said her brother believed in using alternative medicine in conjunction with traditional medicine.

Some reports printed in the past couple of months have suggested that Steward is suffering from colon cancer, although his sister maintains he was operated on recently for diverticulosis, a serious stomach ailment.

Close friend Jackie Kallen, who worked with Hearns at the Kronk on McGraw Street in Detroit and later managed world champion James Toney, said, "I pray to God it's a false rumor. I just hope reports of his demise are greatly exaggerated."

Anita Ruiz, executive director of the Kronk Gym Foundation and a close companion of Steward, was shocked at hearing the rumors.

"Oh, my God, I don't know anything," she told the Free Press. "I can't comment further."

Mike Brudenell writes for the Detroit Free Press

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