Emanuel Steward caught my attention as quality fite analyst when first seen as fill-in guest at HBO ... and following subsequent appearances I was sold on the guy.

Thought it a good move had Steward swap assignments with the regular analyst of the third party, big George Foreman - I mean, let the former amateur bantamweight be the regular and the newly inducted Famer, a proven entertainer and lovable salesperson be the call-in.

C'mon ... we're stuck with Lampley ... company man extraordinary locked into the host spot- talks much too much - to cope with Lamphead baby is to tune out when he unloads the verbiage.

Unconfirmed rumor has it the guy walks around with embossed HBO logo tattoo in close proximity to the private parts - and Larry Merchant, you ask?

Personally, I like Larry's humor better than Foreman's ... in a day of electronic media fight expert frauds , you just gotta give bit of slack to an old print media guy with ink still visible under the fingernails ... only knock with Merchant is an insatiable lust for blood ... think maybe Merchant is terminal club-fight kind of guy ... or closet vampire bat?

But back to Steward ... long before Lewis cried out for help in the person of a yankee tutor, the man from the Kronk gym of Detroit city fame had been a respected member of the fite trainer fraternity ... had himself a Tommy Hearns, Milt McCrory and other special ones.

Manny as good a listen as one could ask for ... astute eye ... spots the little but important things during the ring action ... seems biggest asset is ability to read the opposition ... a critical intangible when working as trainer or doing the analyst gig.

Having said that bit of truth, I find it bothersome he declares the big and oversized Lewis as a top two or three ever heavyweight ... were Lewis not a Steward student I could accept it - one of them beauty in the eyes of beholder things - but in role of hired hand is a whole different thing.

Get a queasy feeling that maybe ... and hope I'm off base in thinking the yankee dollar is jaundicing the credibility here - but the post-fite quotes after the Klitschko fight were well off target of what we all had witnessed.

With Lewis near missing the stool due to fatigue following each candle, after no more than four rounds, spoke volumes ... and much louder than the Lewis shout "I am the last of the great ones" ... and Steward chiming in with a ludicrous tale of a wearing down strategy getting to the amateurish Ukrainian was insulting to the listener.

Once upon a time there was a special heavy champion that wore the surname spelled L-O-U-I-S ... a guy that let the leathered fists do the talking ... and never once found a need to shout anything.

And other past champions that once followed in the Louis mode ... and spoke softly while carrying a big stick ... and will be remembered as special ones - the 1940s and Tony Zale ... 1950s with a Patterson and Marciano ... the sixties with Frazier and Norton.

And into the more modern era with Ray Leonard and Tommy Hearns ... and on into century 21 with a Trinidad, Winky and Barrera to name a few that simply show up for work and let the talent do the talking ... the way it once was.

Manny Stewart knows better ... and today has all systems on go ... and surely doesn't need a suddenly mouthy Lewis to pay the bills ... hopefully, he'll do the right thing ... and returns to calling the shots as he sees them ... as we've come to expect from him.

Semper fi,