By Keith Idec

Deontay Wilder doesn’t know what Wladimir Klitschko was thinking when he fought Tyson Fury.

The unbeaten WBC heavyweight champion does know that Emanuel Steward wouldn’t have allowed such a passive performance from Klitschko. The late trainer had a strong bond with the former heavyweight champion and often motivated him in the corner to do the things Steward knew were necessary to win.

Klitschko didn’t display any sense of urgency during his 12-round, unanimous-decision defeat to Fury in November 2015. When asked during a conference call Monday if a Klitschko trained by Steward would’ve lost to Fury that night in Dusseldorf, Germany, Wilder emphatically replied, “Oh, hell f*ck no! I’m sorry for my language, but no, he don’t [lose to Fury]. No, he don’t. Emanuel woulda been all up on that boy in that corner.

“Like I said, Emanuel would make you believe what he was seeing. When you finally believe in him, you’re like, ‘Damn! It was there all along. I don’t know how I didn’t see it.’ He [saw] things before it even happened. He was great at that. And they had a bond. They had a great relationship. It was like Cus D’Amato and [Mike] Tyson a little bit. They had that great bond, just like me and Jay [Deas] got a great bond in the corner. We understand each other.”

Wilder (38-0, 37 KOs) hopes to see more of the Klitschko that Steward trained when the huge Ukrainian challenges unbeaten British knockout artist Anthony Joshua (18-0, 18 KOs) in their heavyweight title fight Saturday at Wembley Stadium in London (Showtime: 4:15 p.m. ET/1:15 p.m. PT; HBO: 11 p.m. ET/PT). Wilder, who once served as a sparring partner for Klitschko (64-4, 53 KOs), will provide analysis for Sky Sports’ coverage of the Joshua-Klitschko fight later this week in London.

Steward helped rebuild Klitschko’s psyche following technical knockout losses to Corrie Sanders and Lamon Brewster in 2003 and 2004. They won 16 straight fights together before Steward died due to complications from colon cancer in October 2012.

Former cruiserweight contender Johnathon Banks, who also was trained by Steward, became Klitschko’s head trainer after the International Boxing Hall of Famer’s death. Wilder has noticed some slippage in Klitschko since Steward died, and Wilder doesn’t think it is all attributable to the 41-year-old Klitschko aging.

“With Klitschko, I definitely feel that the teaching of Emanuel Steward is lacking a little bit,” Wilder said. “But, I mean, he’s not to blame. Emanuel Steward was a very, very smart trainer. The things that he could see and how he could get in his fighter’s head to see what he saw, and [get them to] actually execute on it, man, it was unbelievable. Emanuel, he wasn’t a great trainer for no reason.

“That’s why I think Klitschko was the best when he had Emanuel in his corner. To hear that voice, to hear it not only while Emanuel was inside the ring, but while he was on the outside as well, too. And now I just feel that, since he’s gone, it’s like more what Wladimir wanna do or what he sees, not what his other trainers see. It’s so much different. It’s like, ‘I’ve learned this style for so long. [Now] I’m under the coaching of somebody else, and now I’ve gotta learn from what he sees now. And it’s not the same teaching. It’s like I had a sensei, and now I’ve got really a student that’s still in the game.’ But Johnathon Banks does a great job, and he does what he can. So big ups to him.”

Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.