"Today is a very sad day for all of us in boxing, because this is the day which Emanuel Steward passed away. He had been ill, and we feared this day was coming very soon. But nonetheless, it didn't change the reality of it.
"I've known Emanuel Steward for about 30 years. Over that time, he's a man I called a friend, and he's somebody who has been as big an influence on me as anybody could be in the world of boxing, with the exception of the great Gil Clancy, who I think is just like Emanuel in terms of what he's accomplished in boxing, and Don Dunphy. Emanuel taught me more boxing and was as good a friend as you could possibly be. My condolences to his family and to all those close to him.
"It's almost impossible to think of the fact that I'm not going to see Emanuel at the next fight when HBO is in town to do it, or he's there training one of his fighters. He's one of those people, it's impossible to think of the boxing landscape without him.
"Today, I've been answering a lot of questions both on radio shows and to newspapermen about him, and it's driven home, I think, the reality of him not being here. And I said to several of the folks that maybe his greatest achievement, despite all the fighters he trained and all the other things he's done in the world of boxing, is at the end of the day, he's the greatest ambassador the sport's ever had.
"If people saw only one person from the sport of boxing, and it happened to be Emanuel Steward, they would all think very highly of the sport. My condolences to Emanuel's family and his friends. He'll be missed."