Ex-Boxing Champ Thomas Hearns Marks Opening Of Kronk Gym's New Incarnation
DETROIT (WWJ/AP) — Ex-boxing champion Thomas Hearns has helped mark the start of a new version of the Kronk Gym, where he and others learned to fight from the late Hall of Fame boxing trainer Emanuel Steward.
Hearns was on hand Monday afternoon for a ceremonial opening of the gym, now located in a church basement on Detroit's west side.
The original Kronk Gym opened under Steward in the early 1970s. It was closed in 2006 after it fell on tough times and vandals stole copper piping and wiring from the building.
Dozens of boxers went on to become world champions under Steward's tutelage. His sister, Diane Steward-Jones, told WWJ Newsradio 950 that if he had one thing to do over he would go back to just training the amateurs and children.
"They gave him so much joy," Steward-Jones said. "He liked watching them grow, not just as boxers, but as humans and citizens and many of them went on to college, and so on and so forth."
Steward moved the gym to another location and it was closed after his death in 2012.
The International Boxing Hall of Fame trainer worked with a long list of champions, including Hearns and Wladimir Klitschko.
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