To be the best, you need to spend hours and hours and hours running, hitting the speed bag, lifting weights and just focusing on training.
— Sugar Ray Leonard
I came from nothing and achieved humungous fame and fortune. But I worked hard. I had discipline and determination. I had that ice in me.
I wanted to win the gold medal and then go home and further my education in college. I had no intentions whatsoever to become a professional fighter because I had heard horror stories about former boxers who made money but, in the end, ended up with nothing. I didn't want to be one of those guys.
For some reason, I was drawn towards boxing. Or maybe boxing drew me towards it - because once I put those gloves on, after about six months, boxing was my life.
I'm not religious, but I believe that what I have is a gift, and I respect it and live up to it.
I think I've become one of the best finishers in boxing; if I hurt a guy, I normally take him out.
I fought tall fighters, short fighters, strong fighters, slow fighters, sluggers and boxers. It was either learn or get knocked off.
Boxing was the only career where I wouldn't have to start out at the bottom. I had a good resume.
When we got back to the U.S., I wanted to kiss the ground after seeing what people in other countries are denied or don't have.
Before the start of the '76 Olympics, I'd had 160 amateur fights. I won 155 and lost five.
Generally, the more weight you put on, the less effective you are.
You just don't heal that easy unless you're young.
I've never believed in tying myself up in a long-range contract, and I've been very outspoken on that subject.
Ali's belief in himself was something I picked up on, and it's become my own philosophy.
Boxing is the ultimate challenge. There's nothing that can compare to testing yourself the way you do every time you step in the ring.
Holyfield is nothing but class, and I think he's a breath of fresh air for the sport.
For the most part, I think video games do a good job of capturing the essence of boxing. However, I'd like to continue to see them push the realism, emphasizing the skill involved.
I wanted to be like Bruce Jenner.
I watched Muhammad Ali, how when he would speak, how it was such a thing of beauty. It sounded so wonderful. And I wanted to be like him.
Within our dreams and aspirations we find our opportunities.
Before I fight, I always pray that no one gets hurt.
I want my fights to be seen as plays that have a beginning, a middle and an end.
If I hadn't had the talent, the networks wouldn't have televised my fights. No one has made me; I made myself. I paid my dues.
Except for Ali, fighters had never been marketable.
In Italy, I had an Afro, and a lot of the kids came up and felt my hair. It really was funny. I wish I had understood Italian.
Boxing was not something I truly enjoyed. Like a lot of things in life, when you put the gloves on, it's better to give than to receive.
When I'm not in training. I'll walk around the streets at 153, but it's not solid; it's my socializing weight.
I'm a competitor and a very proud man. If a guy beats me once, he'll have to do it again to make me believe him.
I'm a free agent. I haven't allowed any promoters to have exclusive options on my fight. I don't need a promoter.
When I turned pro, Muhammad Ali was laying back, and I was able to fill up an area that was empty.
To be the best, you need to spend hours and hours and hours running, hitting the speed bag, lifting weights and focusing on training.
We're all given some sort of skill in life. Mine just happens to be beating up on people.
I wouldn't change anything because the mistakes and the hurt are as important as all the great fights. They made me who I am today.
I went through real darkness, but the ring was my light. That was the one place I felt safe. I could control what happened in the ring. My heart turned icy.
I didn't excel too highly in school, but I felt that I was moving ahead - and not just in boxing - but in life.
I'll think, If this is his first punch, how are the others gonna feel? That's the only fear I have for myself.
Boxing brings out my aggressive instinct, not necessarily a killer instinct.
Bruce Lee was an artist and, like him, I try to go beyond the fundamentals of my sport. I want the public to see a knockout in the making.
They say that I'm stubborn, and my wife says that, too, but it's paid off so far.
Although it was a great accomplishment to win a gold medal, as soon as they put it on you, that's it; your career is over.
It's different when you become a professional, because you also have to become a businessman, and that takes something away from it.
I was painfully initiated into boxing, because the guys I fought were a lot bigger than me.
Aaron Pryor wants to get into the ring with me. He wants to be able to retire, and he will. For health reasons.
I think an athlete should be honest. I know it's difficult, but if a guy knocked me on my can, I couldn't very well say, I slipped.
No one but myself thought I could beat guys like Tommy Hearns or Roberto Duran.
Duran always disturbs me. The guy is just weird. Before our first fight, both Duran and his wife gave my wife the finger.
It's hard to talk about yourself.
