By Dam Ambrose: Super middleweight contender Adonis Stevenson (19-1, 16 KO’s) had a huge blow to his career today with the death of his famous trainer Emanuel Steward, who passed away from an undisclosed cause in a Chicago hospital. Stevenson was really close to the 68-year-old Steward and he’d learned a lot from him during the time that Steward has worked with the 35-year-old Stevenson.

What really hurts is that Steward won’t be around to see Stevenson fight for a world title in 2013, and that’s got to hurt Stevenson because he was hoping Steward would be there for him when that moment came so that the two of them could share in that moment.

Stevenson said this about Steward’s death on his twitter page today: “It is with great sadness that I learned today the death of a man that I admired a lot. My trainer and mentor the legendary Emanuel Steward. My condolences to Emanuel’s family.”

The sad part about this, besides the loss of a great man in Steward, is that Stevenson just recently defeated Don George to earn the mandatory spot for the IBF super middleweight title and is looking at getting a fight against champion Carl Froch at some point next year. Stevenson is right on the cusp of winning a world title and making it big after six years as a pro. A victory over Froch will make Stevenson a star in the super middleweight division and put him in line for big money fights against the likes of Andre Ward, Arthur Abraham and Mikkel Kessler.

It would have been great for Steward to be there with Stevenson when he accomplishes those things. Stevenson may not ever get a fight against Froch, however, because he’s likely to vacate the title rather than face him, but Stevenson is likely to pick up the vacant title after Froch gives it up. Stevenson would probably be facing either Edwin Rodriguez or Thomas Oosthuizen for Froch’s vacant IBF title if he chooses to give it up rather than fight him. You’d have to favor Stevenson over both of those guys.