As previously reported, within 24 hours of Hall of Fame boxing trainer Emanuel Steward's death, his legendary Detroit boxing gym had lost its sign. The red-and-gold Kronk Gym sign at the gym was removed Friday at the request of Steward's sister, the Detroit Free Press reported Saturday. Steward, 68, died last Thursday in a Chicago hospital. Diane Steward-Jones told the newspaper that she was taking things out of the gym, including the boxing ring and historic fight photos and posters, to "safeguard the legacy" of her brother. "There are people in the gym scavengers who would try and take everything out of my brother's gym," she told the newspaper. "I've alerted the police. People are not going to **** and ravage that place. There will be nothing left. The ring is even being removed." She also said she was considering locking the gym, a move that would leave dozens of fighters without a place to train. "Emanuel was counting on me to protect his stuff from less than honest people, and I'm going to do it," she said. Steward established the Kronk program in 1971. The gym's first professional champion, Hilmer Kenty, won the WBA title in 1978. But Tommy "Hitman" Hearns really put Kronk and Steward on the map, winning five titles with a 61-5-1 record as a pro. Hearns was at the gym Friday, sitting on the ring that Steward's sister intends to take out of the building. The original Kronk location closed in 2006. It has been at the location near Southfield Road since then. It's been operating on a month-to-month basis. Longtime Kronk trainer Keith Lee told the newspaper late Friday afternoon that the "doors have been locked and the alarm set."
I get where she's coming from & I obviously didn't know Steward, but I find it hard to believe he would want the gym closed & dozens of boxers be thrown out with nowhere to train. Sad situation.
I think there are some things going on with this situation that aren't out yet that led to some of the confusing reports about what illness he had, then if he had died, now what's going on with the gym.
She's right, boxing is full of scavengers and leeches, but you have to feel for Mannys boxers/friends who trained in the Kronk and were proud of it
So why not put new equipment in the gym which holds no sentimental value? Seems like more of a mental breakdown to me. Not what Manny would have wanted and his sister clearly doesn't understand that.
any building left for for any length of time in detriot gets ravaged and usually set alight, i read once that neighbours were setting houses that were left on fire to stop drug dealers moving in :admin
