Emanuel "Manny" Steward was an American boxer, trainer, and commentator for HBO Boxing. He was also called the Godfather of Detroit Boxing. Steward trained 41 world champion fighters throughout his career, most notably Thomas Hearns, through the famous Kronk Gym and later heavyweights Lennox Lewis and Volodymyr Klytschko. Emanuel trained over two dozen boxers who turned out to be champions in the course of his career. His heavyweight fighters had a combined record of 34–2–1 in title fights. He was an inducted of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame, and the World Boxing Hall of Fame. Steward was also known for his charity work in Detroit, Michigan, helping youth to attain an education.
John Mugabi is a Ugandan former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1991, and 1996 to 1999. He held the WBC super-welterweight title from 1989 to 1990, and challenged twice for world titles at middleweight, including the undisputed championship.
Nigel Gregory Benn is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1987 to 1996. He held world championships in two weight classes, including the WBO middleweight title in 1990 and the WBC super-middleweight title from 1992 to 1996. He is considered one of the best Super Middleweights of all time.At the regional level, he held the Commonwealth middleweight title from 1988 to 1989. He scored notable wins over Champions Doug DeWitt, Iran Barkley, Thulani Malinga, Mauro Galvano and Gerald McClellan.
Kronk Gym is a boxing gym located in Detroit, once led by trainer Emanuel Steward. It was run out of the basement of the oldest recreation center of the City of Detroit, and became a household word in the sport of boxing and its gold shorts a magnet to young talent following the enormous success and high profile of multiple World Champion and Boxing Hall of Famer Thomas "The Hitman" Hearns in the 1980s.
Donald Curry, is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1980 to 1991, and in 1997. He held the WBA world welterweight title from 1983 to 1986, the undisputed world welterweight title from 1985 to 1986 and the WBC light middleweight title from 1988 to 1989, and challenged once for the IBF middleweight title in 1990. In 2019, he was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
Julian Jackson is a former professional boxer from the U.S. Virgin Islands who competed from 1981 to 1998. He is a three-time world champion in two weight classes, having held the WBA super welterweight title from 1987 to 1990, and the WBC middleweight title twice between 1990 and 1995. Possessing formidable knockout power, Jackson is regarded by many as one of the hardest punchers in boxing history, pound for pound, and was ranked number 25 by The Ring magazine in a 2003 list of "100 Greatest Punchers". Jackson's knockout-to-win ratio stands at 89%. Jackson was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2019.
James Nathaniel Toney is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2017. He held multiple world championships in three weight classes, including the IBF and lineal middleweight titles from 1991 to 1993, the IBF super middleweight title from 1993 to 1994, and the IBF cruiserweight title in 2003. Toney also challenged twice for a world heavyweight title in 2005 and 2006, and was victorious the first time but was later stripped due to a failed drug test. Overall, he competed in fifteen world title fights across four weight classes.
Vincenzo Nardiello is a retired former world champion Italian boxer in the super middleweight division.
Tarick Salmaci is a Lebanese-American former professional boxer and North American Boxing Organization (NABO) middleweight champion. He was one of 16 boxers chosen worldwide to participate on season 1 of NBC's reality television series The Contender.
Mike McCallum is a Jamaican former professional boxer who competed from 1981 to 1997. He held world championships in three weight classes, including the WBA super welterweight title from 1984 to 1988, the WBA middleweight title from 1989 to 1991, and the WBC light heavyweight title from 1994 to 1995.
Stephen Collins is an Irish former professional boxer who competed from 1986 to 1997. Known as the Celtic Warrior, Collins is the most successful male Irish boxer in recent professional boxing history, having held the WBO middleweight and super-middleweight titles simultaneously and never losing a fight as champion.
Oliver McCall is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1985 to 2019. A veteran of the sport for over three decades, he is best known for winning the WBC heavyweight title in 1994 by scoring an upset knockout victory over Lennox Lewis. The next year he defended the title against Larry Holmes before losing it to Frank Bruno. McCall is known for an in-ring mental breakdown during his 1997 rematch with Lewis. McCall's son, Elijah, is also a heavyweight professional boxer. McCall is known for never being knocked down in his 74-bout professional career and possessed one of the most durable chins of his time.
Andy Lee is an Irish former professional boxer who competed from 2006 to 2017. He held the WBO middleweight title from 2014 to 2015, and in doing so became the first member of the travelling community to win a major world title. He is the second cousin of lineal heavyweight champion Tyson Fury. During his professional career, Lee was trained by the late Emmanuel Steward.
As in the 1980s, the 1990s in boxing's popularity focused on all divisions. When 1980s legends Sugar Ray Leonard, Thomas Hearns, as well as others retired, newer superstars filled the void: Pernell Whitaker, Julio César Chávez, in the early 1990s, Oscar De La Hoya, Félix Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr. and Floyd Mayweather Jr. in the mid to late 1990s.
Milton McCrory is a former professional boxer who was a world champion in the welterweight (147lb) division.
Nigel Benn vs. Chris Eubank was a series of two professional boxing matches which took place on 18 November 1990 and 9 October 1993. Both Benn and Eubank fought at middleweight and super middleweight around the same time in 1985–97, and became rivals on both the domestic and world boxing scene. Benn won his first 22 consecutive bouts by knockout, earning the moniker 'the Dark Destroyer'. Eubank was the cocky, flamboyant upstart who began calling out Benn after his tenth bout. The rivalry grew, with both men swearing that they would knock the other man out. The British public began to demand the fight to be made.
Showtime Championship Boxing was a television boxing program airing on Showtime. Debuting in March 1986, it is broadcast live on the first Saturday of every month. Showtime Championship Boxing, which is very similar to HBO World Championship Boxing, features Mauro Ranallo on play-by-play, Al Bernstein as the color analyst, Jimmy Lennon as ring announcers, and Jim Gray as reporter.
Frank Bruno vs. Mike Tyson II, billed as The Championship: Part I, was a professional boxing match contested on March 16, 1996 for the WBC heavyweight championship.
Henry Wharton is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1989 to 1998. He challenged three times for super middleweight world championships; the WBC twice, firstly in 1994 and again in 1997, and the WBO title in 1994. At regional level, he held the British super middleweight title in 1992; the Commonwealth super middleweight title from 1991 to 1996; and the EBU European super middleweight title from 1995 to 1996. Wharton is best remembered for his world title fights with Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank in 1994.
Nigel Benn vs. Gerald McClellan, billed as Sudden Impact, was a professional boxing match contested on 25 February 1995 between WBC super-middleweight champion Nigel Benn and former WBC middleweight champion Gerald McClellan. It is widely regarded as one of the sport's most brutal and thrillingly violent encounters, with Benn defeating McClellan via a tenth-round knockout after McClellan was counted out while down on one knee. Shortly after the match ended, McClellan collapsed and fell into a coma for two weeks.
U.S. National Championships (156 lbs), Buffalo, New York, March–April 1987: