"He's going to be most known as one of the greatest trainers in the history of the sport. That's the central element of his identity. He's my best friend and it's on a personal level I have the most appreciation for him. But he is the man who groomed Thomas Hearns and who built an iconic inner city gym in the working class capital of America.
"What tells you a lot about the man he was is that he made a tremendous mark in his early days training what one would think was his natural constituency, black American fighters in the middle weight classes. But then he moved on and trained an English heavyweight champion, a Ukrainian heavyweight champion and an Irish middleweight. He was just spectacular."
"We are all grieving the passing of our friend Emanuel Steward. His founding and leadership of the Kronk Gym in Detroit was outstanding. His efforts produced many world class fighters and champions including Tommy Hearns, Milt McCrory, Michael Moorer and many more.
"Emanuel Steward always stood for the best that boxing could offer. He will be missed by all of us."
Oscar De La Hoya:
"It brings me great grief and sadness to hear of the passing of one of the best and most respected trainers of this era, Emanuel Steward.
"I learned a lot from him during our professional relationship and I will be forever grateful for his help during that time.
"We were also friends and I know I am going to miss him as so many others will too. He was an important part of our boxing community."
"Emanuel Steward passing today is biggest loss to boxing in long time. He'll be greatly missed. My thoughts prayers are with his family."
"Emanuel thank you for giving it all for our sport and for giving me your great advice. We enjoyed those days! You will always be in my mind"
"(His death) is devastating. Thank God I had the chance to see him in Las Vegas at the WBC boxing convention. We got a chance to talk a little bit. I had heard that he was sick, but Manny is such a fighter himself that he can put on this front. Besides looking a little smaller and a little thinner, he looked pretty good. But I don't think about those times when I saw him like that. I think about the good times that we had together."
"He was a giant in our business. He was the greatest teacher of his generation and a great ambassador for the sport. As long as there's boxing, no one will forget Emanuel Steward."
"I knew Manny personally, and we went back to the amateur days. I can say this in confidence: In my mind, Manny was the best trainer ever in boxing. The reason why I say that is that he could develop his products and he was a great diamond finisher. But he raised them. He didn't have to give an explanation to why he was able to finish up a diamond that somebody else had mined. That's because he had mined so many of them himself."
"Sad to hear of the passing of Emanuel Steward. May he rest in peace."
"Really sorry to hear of the passing of a great person, one of the best trainers ever. RIP Emanuel Steward!!!!"
"Emanuel Steward R.I.P So much more than a coach.You educated the Boxing World. Our sport will not be the same now that you have passed!"
"Fighters also loved him for his generosity and for the father-figure role he often played in their lives. Training fighters was not just a job for Steward. He often took fighters in to live with him in his Detroit home, training them by day and parenting them by night."