20th-century Boxer Quotes

Muhammad Ali

Mike Tyson

Joe Frazier

George Foreman

Joe Louis

Max Schmeling

Sugar Ray Robinson

What could be better than walking down any street in any city and knowing you're the heavyweight champion of the world?

The man to beat me hasn't been born yet.

I know that if I am not at my best and I do not perform I will lose. I'm never over-confident. Over-confidence is a weakness because it stops you training as hard as you should. It has happened to fighters like Naseem Hamed and Lennox Lewis. Complacency beats fighters.

I watched a TV documentary about how animals are farmed, killed and prepared for us to eat. I saw all those cows and pigs and realised I couldn't be a part of it any more. It was horrible. I did some research to make sure I could still obtain enough protein to fight and, once satisfied that I could, I stopped [eating animal products]. I'll never go back.

I am not an animal in my personal life. But in the ring there is an animal inside me. Sometimes it roars when the first bell rights. Sometimes it springs out later in a fight. But i can always feel it there, driving me and pushing me forward. It is what makes me win. It makes me enjoy fighting.

I feel in an executioner mood, I am going to punish him and punish him slowly.

Bernard Hopkins

I found out Scott (Brown) is anti-union and I'm a Teamster guy. I found out he's also against gay marriage, and I say if you love someone, you should have the same rights no matter who you are.

I respect Floyd as a fighter but come 5 May, he's going to be hurting for weeks.

Oscar De La Hoya

Joe Louis is the hardest puncher that I've ever seen... He's a good man. Anyone who plans on beating him had better know what they're doing.

I don't like Marvin. Never have and never will. I just want to tell you something. Get there early and sit tight. Don't blink. You might miss the fight.

People might think that boxers are all animals and nasty people. But at the end of the day, we're all brothers: black or white, yellow or pink. We are all in the same business, and after the fight we are hugging each other like we're gay.

I'm not the best, I'm just a guy who's willing to fight the best.

She clawed in bits of glass and brick,
Then lifted out a shoe.
"O, here's the shoe my baby wore
But, baby, where are you?"

It wasn't about Larry Holmes, if I would have fought a brother I wouldn't have gotten the money I got. Give me 10 black guys and I make eight dollars. Give me Gerry Cooney and I make $10 million.

I fought Sugar Ray so often, I almost got diabetes.

It would give me a terrific sense of satisfaction to be the man who sent both Eubank and Benn into retirement. Benn doesn't need me to tell him that he's over the hill because, deep down, he knows it.

When I think of the people who have been there, and the people I grew up admiring - the likes of Muhammad Ali, Rocky Marciano, Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Leonard... it's just incredible that I'm in the same sort of club.

Greb gave me a terrible whipping. My jaw was swollen from the right temple down the cheek, along the chin and part way up the other side. The referee, the ring itself, was full of my blood. If boxing was afflicted with the commission doctors that we have now, the first fight probably would have been stopped and no one would have heard of me today.

Men without dignity are like clowns without an audience, pathetic and lost

Mister, it's my business to get him in trouble.

Sugar Ray Robinson

About Oscar de la Hoya:

He can have heart, he can hit harder and he can be stronger, but there's no fighter smarter than me.

Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

You have to keep your goal in mind and never lose sight of it. I envisioned myself winning the heavyweight title for ten years before I actually captured it. If you're not driven to do your best, you'll never reach the level of excellence in your life.

I don't know if I wanted to top myself or if I just wanted someone to hug me.

I will not quit until I am a five-times world champion.

After defeating Lou Savarese

Evander Holyfield

It was my ambition to fight Becerra. I didn't care where. But that very year Becerra was unlucky enough to be responsible for the death of Walt Ingram, whom he had boxed in Mexico. I don't think he wanted to fight too much after that. He continued for another year, or until he himself was knocked out over the weight in Mexico by Eloy Sanchez. Then he did retire.