I was lucky. I held on to some of my money. I didn't really know what I wanted to do after boxing. But I found what I wanted to do.
— Gerry Cooney
For every athlete, the roar of the crowd goes away, and we have to learn how to turn the page.
My career got sidetracked after fighting Holmes.
When I fought Holmes, I feel I was a better fighter than he was. I was just so caught up in what was written about the fight - I got caught up in that whole thing.
The past is yesterday. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.
People who think I lack desire are wrong.
I don't care what you say about me anymore! I don't care what you write about me anymore. I don't care! This is my life. I can't have anybody messing with my life. I just want to be Gerry Cooney, doing what I want to do. I want to be what I am. A fighter.
Joe DeGuardia, I love that guy. He's not a superstar promoter yet, but he will be. He was a fighter himself; he's staying the course with these guys. He's developing some good fighters out there. I really applaud him whenever I get a chance to.
The Klitschko boys, they're great fighters, but they're just boring here in America.
Just because you don't see someone doesn't mean the love has changed.
If I keep thinking about yesterday, tomorrow might never come.
Too many fighters stay in the game for too long. They stay because it's awfully hard to walk away from the roar of the crowd. Really hard. You live for that and so you stay too long. And you might have a wife and kids to feed. So you keep fighting because you don't know how to do anything else.
I don't fear Holmes, but I think he's a good fighter. He has a lot of pride. But I wouldn't be fighting him if I feared him. It's going to be a tough fight. People say with all the hoopla out there, I won't be able to handle it. I believe the pressure's on him. I'm just going to do my thing.
When I get finished with fighting, I hope they ask the same questions. It's not my purpose to answer them. Boxing is the art of self-defense. I knock 'em out the first chance I get.
I just like people. We have a good time together.
My father was one tough man.
When somebody used to compliment me, I'd spend 10 minutes trying to talk them out of it.
I believe in myself. I want to be a fighter. I want to be heavyweight champion of the world.
I see Mike Tyson as too strong for Spinks.
I really don't care who I fight.
Drug abuse is a very difficult disease.
Everybody handles pressure differently.
I want to get me one of those titles.
Long Island has a great boxing tradition.
Winning the Gloves made me believe I was somebody.
It's like you always think that when you get to a goal, you'll be happy. But then there is always something else that interests you.
The fight with Holmes was a plus. I gained so much experience.
You gotta appreciate every day!
I retired when I was 30, with all my marbles and a few bucks. But a lot of guys leave boxing penniless with no skills. Men in their 30s and early 40s, old for boxing, young in life, but also old in the job market if you're just getting started with no education. These guys need someone in their corner.
After every fight, I knock myself down. I start from scratch again. I say, 'I'm not as good as I thought.' It makes you work harder. It makes you push harder. It's more than money. It's more than the title. It's my pride, and it can be scary thinking about it. I could lose. It's scary.
The road hasn't always been paved for me. People identify with that. Everybody passes through hard times, and I think that's part of my appeal - that I have, too.
It takes a strong person to admit he's got problems. Things are bugging you, you've got to get it out. Life is supposed to be peaches and cream, but it doesn't turn out that way. I sometimes found things confusing and sometimes didn't understand how things can be so difficult.
I always felt I was wounded. That I was no good, a piece of crap, and that I wouldn't amount to anything, because that's what my father always told me. I just felt like I didn't belong anywhere.
I feel very blessed.
I had money, but I still didn't know what to do with my life.
In '82, I was a little too young, I was a little inexperienced, and I was more concerned with going the distance in the fight than going out and taking Holmes out.
I believe in my abilities as a fighter.
I want to win. For myself first. And for all those people who stuck with me and understood.
Looking back, I couldn't get enough fights because Don King owned most of the top 10 fighters, and he never gave me a fight.
Sometimes it takes certain people longer to get over things than others.
When we first started in Huntington Recreation with John Capobianco, we put four kids in the Golden Gloves finals. We didn't even have a ring. We trained at Stimson Junior High School. They give us the gym three nights a week. We used to box in the gym - no ring, just on the gym floor.
I don't overswing any more. I can throw a punch and be right in position to punch again. No more 'Hail Mary' punches, where it took me five minutes to get back in position.
What hurt most were the people who came up to me and said they lost $1,000 on me. It just makes you mad.
I feel like a pro now. Before I fought Holmes, I felt like a rookie.
We try to tell these guys that the end of a boxing career isn't the end of their lives: it's the beginning of a new one.
Too many guys don't know what to do with their lives after boxing. I was lucky because I had two managers who didn't trust each other, and so they were always making sure where all the money was, and because of that, so did I.
People haven't seen enough of me. My fights haven't gone the distance, and people have a lot of questions. I want to find out for myself as much as the people do. I want to find out what I can do.
I had personal problems. I was spending 50% of my life on my family, 50% on boxing. Neither was getting anywhere. It was killing me. So I had to break away from fighting.
I'm a real person. I have real feelings. I have real thoughts. It's a quality people like about me. They can reach out and touch me. I wouldn't give it up for anything.
I've spent most of my life in prison. I was a prisoner of my fear and my low self-esteem.
