What separates the great from the truly great? When it came to Mexico’s numero uno, Emanuel Steward believed the answer could be written in a matter of moments – the fights that define a career and elevate a fighter above his peers.

Widely considered one of the greatest trainers in boxing history, Steward oversaw a conveyor belt of champions forged in the unforgiving Kronk gym where only the toughest survived. His influence reached far beyond Detroit, leading him to work with heavyweight champions Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko and making him the first American trainer to coach Mexican icon Julio Cesar Chavez.

Steward worked with Chavez for several weeks before his 1994 rematch with Frank Randall. Geoffrey Ciani published in 2011, he explained in detail why he considered Chavez the best player in Mexican history.

“I think he rose to prominence as a boxer for his major achievements in huge fights. You could be good, but you have to have those signature fights in your career that really highlight your greatness. I would probably say the first one with Meldrick Taylor – it couldn’t have been more dramatic than that, to come back in a fight he was losing and score the knockout with two seconds left.”

“Defeat [Edwin] Rosario was special because of the rivalry between Mexico and Puerto Rico. He defeated him, which was the most essential thing for all Mexicans. Then he beat him [Hector] Camacho. He came back and defeated Frankie Randall, although the stoppage was controversial. He then knocked out Meldrick Taylor in the rematch. Meldrick wasn’t what he was before, but it was still a very intriguing and intriguing fight.”

Beyond his achievements in the ring, Steward was struck by the extraordinary adulation Chavez generated in his homeland – an experience that left a lasting impression on one of boxing’s most traveled and respected figures.

“He may be the greatest sports hero, not just a boxer, in Mexican history. I have never seen anyone analyzed as much as he was. It even surpassed Muhammad Ali. Only on the highways were people driving cars and almost crashing trying to touch his car.”

“When he came out of the stadium once, when we were at the bullfight, people were spreading the word that he was coming. When the car pulled into the parking lot, there were probably about 1,000 people, and when he walked into the arena, his picture was all over the huge screen. Each of the fighters, who was a bullfighter, had to lift his hat to float in the air so he could catch it before each bullfight, and when he came out, it showed on the screen and the whole stadium just went crazy. It’s just never happened before I haven’t seen anything like this.

For Steward, greatness was never just about titles and technique. IN Chavezhe saw a fighter who had performed at the sport’s defining moments – and whose presence transcended boxing itself, making him a national symbol unlike anything even he had encountered before.