Watching Lewis's first few fights on youtube, just wondering if anyone knows when he started to train with Steward? Couldn't find a date on the net. Any help would be appreciated.
Lionel Butler in 1995. Emanuel Steward worked Oliver McCall's corner when McCall beat Lennox in 1994, taking advantage of the way Lewis left himself open when he winged that right hand. The next time Lennox fought, against Butler, Manny was in his corner.
damnit, when you watch early Lewis and Wlad fights they were really entertaining. I do like Steward and understand how successful he makes his fighters but feel like he has deprived us of some serious entertainment.
I actually enjoy watching Lewis more after he hooked up with Manny. He had some stinkers of course, but he also had some very entertaining fights (Mercer, Klitschko, Briggs) and explosive knockouts/beatings (Golota, Rahman 2, Grant, Botha). Personally I found Lewis to be often too sloppy and ugly when he was younger. I remember when he was trying to finish Philip Jackson and Jim Lampley commenting "Lewis is not the most graceful finisher in there". Of course there are exceptions. The way he took out Ruddock was brilliant. Mainly I just didn't like the way he threw those ugly winging shots but he turned that right hand over short and sweet over that Ruddock jab to the body.
One thing I noticed when he was younger was his foot speed, he was much, much lighter on his feet when he was younger especially noticable if you watch one of his earlier fights and then watch his fight against Vitali, it's night and day.
