Lewis's retirement speech - 4 years on

Interesting that he listed Mercer along with Holyfield and Tyson as his defining fights.

 

He didn't thank Frank Maloney, his manager for most of his career. There must have been some real bitterness there.

 

He and Maloney had a court case pending at the time and Maloney was threatening to write a tell it all book about Lewis or something, they settled out of court in the end.

Since then they seem to have patched it up and Maloney has sent David Haye out to Miami a couple of times to train with Lewis.

 

I think Maloney was right to blame Manny Steward for the Rahman loss.
Steward was a disgrace, and should have been sacked.

But Lewis obviously felt Steward really helped him overall - and who am I to argue ? - and Lewis never lost again with Steward in his corner.

 

I don't think it's Steward's fault. It's Lewis' fault. He was the one going into movies and making the final decisions on training. For all we know, Steward may have been pissed off behind the scene in preparation to the first Rahman fight, but never mentioned it because he's a professional. Lewis blamed himself. I think it's too easy to blame everything on the trainer (a tradition in soccer), when you know damn well that you should've stepped up yourself.

Steward was the perfect trainer for Lewis because he's an expert working with tall, powerful and rangy fighters.

 

steward does stand for too much nonsense in camp,remember how he was so annoyed at Hameds preparation for Barrerra but yet stuck around instead of laying down the law and walking out. He is out for glory which is why i believe he hangs around, when Nas lost he was quick to jump ship!

 

When asked about acclimatising to the high altitude, Steward said "Guys like me and Lennox, we do a lot of travelling, we dont need to acclimatise"
I SAW HIM SAY THIS ON TELEVISION.
He scoffed at suggestions that high altitude would be a factor, and CONTINUED TO STICK TO THAT LINE AFTER THE DEFEAT.

While Lewis was making Ocean's Eleven, Steward was training Naseem Hamed for his fight with Barrera.
He was taking the money, and going along with the idea that Lewis's didn't need much prep for Hasim Rahman.

Just because Steward has a great record as a trainer doesn't mean he didn't **** up badly, neglect his work. He's NOT beyong criticism.

I find it laughable that so much of Lewis's pre-Steward flaws, and lazy development are blamed firmly on his previous trainers, but in what is quite a CLEAR CASE of a trainer neglecting his duty (Lewis-Rahman), Manny Steward gets off scot-free !
Talk about favouritism.

Good trainers have WALKED away(or threatened to walk), either before or after a fight, and given up big pay checks, when a fighter has refused to buckle down to serious prep. All indications are that Steward believed Lewis didn't need to do much to beat Rahman, and was busy making extra money with Naseem Hamed at the time.

Steward is given leeway because of his "name". A lesser-known trainer would be getting a high degree of blame for what happened in South Africa.

Sure, the fighter is ultimately responsible, but trainers are paid to do their bit too.
Steward was as cocky about Lewis's ability as Lewis was himself.

 

still got all this on tape.

frank maloney giving his views in the studio.

and then lenny coming out and announcing his retirement.

sad day. :?

 

Yes, but you don't know whether or not Steward was being selective in what to say to the press. It wouldn't be smart for a trainer to say about his trainee that he's a dumbass for being in movies.

I never believed in the acclimatisation excuse, anyway. Sure, it may have had a little influence, but the lack of focus, movies etc was a much bigger factor.

And what did you want Steward to do when Lewis was doing movies? Coach Lewis on how to act with Brad Pitt?

About the previous trainers: the difference here is that Steward improved Lewis' style enormously. Lewis' loss to McCall was to a certain degree because his style was flawed, something Pepe Korea couldn't help him with. The Rahman loss was not of that nature.

The trainer is there to help the fighter out in technical ability, style wise improvement, in some but not all cases conditioning training and having a gameplan for the opponent. Whether or not a fighter does his roadwork etc, is the fighter's own decision, not the trainer's. They can like it or not, but in the end, it's not their call.

Steward has always believed in giving his fighters a lot of self confidence and although i agree he should've pushed Lewis more, i think in the end it is Lewis who is the blame for being stupid, not Steward. Do you blame Joe Louis for going to the golf course after 2 rounds before the first Schmeling fight or is that Blackburns' fault? Do you think Marciano deserves credit for always being in top condition or is that his trainer's achievement? Do you blame some of Tyson's losses when he was out of shape on Tyson or on his trainers? Do you think it's Toney's trainers' fault that he's such a fat ****?

 

He could have said so AFTER the fight. He could have threatened to walk from Lewis before the fight, before the movie. Training camp is training camp, and the trainer should have a load of authority.

You're giving Steward the benefit of the doubt, I'm just assessing him on all the apparent indications.
If this was a Holyfield or Tyson fight I would like to believe Steward would have walked, but I dont know.

The acclimitisation was an ISSUE BEFORE THE FIGHT.
I'm not saying it was the primary factor but it was quite a talking point. The fact that Rahman had got there weeks in advance, and the fact that the writers and boxers out there knew the difference, made Lewis's cavalier attitude conspicuous.
It was another INDICATION of the overall over-confidence. Steward chose to give interviews and give over-confident answers. You can argue that this was his cover-up but that is just giving him the benefit of the doubt.
Have any indications come to light that Steward wasn't really just as cocky and over-confident as Lewis ?

Again, you're giving Steward the benefit of the doubt. It's as if Lewis decided not to train and make movies, against Steward's wishes, so Steward had to find something else to do ? More likely is that BOTH guys considered Rahman a soft-touch who was hardly worth bothering with. And Steward wanted the Hamed money.

On the contrary, Rahman exploited a far worse flaw than McCall exploited. McCall had to time his right at the same time as Lewis started to throw his. Lewis tipped his right a bit, and dropped his left. McCall exploited this well.
Lewis against Rahman had no defense, footwork all skewed, just stood there looking completely amateurish, actually walked INTO the ropes under his own volition, and got KO'd. The flaws in Lewis at the point he got KO'd are so numerous it's worth wondering what he was doing correct.

Teddy Atlas would have fights with Michael Moorer when Moorer was trying to slack. He'd be on his door telling him to get his shoes on and run. Many old school trainers were similar. I tend to think Lewis was a more reasonable and less moody guy than Moorer, and would have listened to harsh reality. I suspect that Steward was genuinely as slack and over-confident about this fight as Lewis was.

There are credible reports that Blackburn did complain about Louis prior to the fight. But I think Schmeling fought one hell of a fight, to be honest. Louis's golfing may have played a part but I think Schmeling just beat him with clever boxing and counter-punching.

Yes, Goldman DID assist Marciano's conditioning. In some fights Marciano thought maybe Goldman had pushed him too hard and over-trained him, so Marciano cut down his training in his last fights, against Goldman's fierce protests. However, I thought Marciano looked better when he'd "over-trained" than in his fight with Cockell, where he cut back and looked a bit tired.
And we're just talking about the relative amount of training here, huge amounts, training camps, not whether a fighter is making movies or dismissing such considerations as high altitude acclimitisation.

Tyson is a different character to Lewis.
Firstly, he seems unpredicatable and unhinged, moody and manic depressive. Tyson changed trainers all the time. Yes, they failed. But the fact suggests he was a difficult person to succeed with.
Secondly, his trainers after Rooney were just trying to encourage him to go back to the D'amato style, they hadn't actually been involved in it.
Obviously, if Lewis credited Steward with making him a better fighter, and respected him for it, he would be open to listening to some home truths.
But I doubt any fierce confrontations occured over Lewis's relative slackness. I suspect that Steward was equally as cocky about Rahman as Lewis was.

A trainer has some responsibility, surely. If you asked a good trainer what those responsibilities are, I think he would say "It is my job to get my fighter fully prepared, mentally and physically, to compete at his best in the fight".
That is his job, his profession, that is what he is paid to do. So why shouldn't he be held to account when that job CLEARLY hasn't been done properly ?

 

Lewis himself made no excuses after the loss, even when the interviewer suggested he wasnt in shape or aclimatised he refused to use those things as an excuse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKF4Pta4d3w

 

He didn't admit his mistakes either, mistakes that many writers and commentators were talking about BEFORE he lost.

His weight, lack of acclimitisation, and making the movie, WERE mistakes. And mistakes that were being talked about before the fight.
I saw an interview BEFORE the Rahman fight where Lewis was asked about the movie and leaving it late to acclimatize to altitude, and he was asked whether he'd do the same if he was fighting Tyson. Lewis's answer was effectively "No, I'd train harder for Tyson. I'm not taking Rahman for granted, but I'd prepare much better for Tyson".

Everyone KNEW Lewis wasn't taking Rahman seriously, WE ALL KNEW IT, but we all thought the same as he did - ie. he's still gonna beat Rahman.

There are no "excuses" for losing, he got knocked out plain and simple. But he got knocked out because he made lots of mistakes.

(As a sidenote, a curious thing he said in the post-fight interview if I remember rightly, something like, "I know Hasim Rahman cant beat me."
I suppose that one-tracked delusional thinking is part of a mindset that made him successful in the first place. Kind of like Holyfield's "The only way you can lose is if you quit".)