Boxing Quotes: Inspiring Words from the World of the Sweet Science

"New York's like a boxing match. In Hollywood, it's like a Fellini movie or something"

John Cusack, Actor

"Boxing is like jazz. The better it is, the less people appreciate it"

George Foreman, Athlete

"I've seen George Foreman shadow boxing and the shadow won"

George Foreman, Athlete

"When archaeologists discover the missing arms of Venus de Milo, they will find she was wearing boxing gloves"

John Barrymore, Actor

"A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing"

Emo Philips, Comedian

"But if you cover the World Series on the news or do a feature on an Ali boxing match then all of a sudden ears go up all over the place and people say what the hell are you doing. The reason for that is that we're doing something that people are really interested in"

Roone Arledge, Journalist

"Handball, swimming, running, jumping, basketball, and boxing were as much a part of me as breathing"

Gene Tunney, Athlete

"My own ambition in the ring had always been skillful boxing, speed and defense - on the order of Mike Gibbons"

Gene Tunney, Athlete

"As a West Side kid fooling around with boxing gloves, I had been, for some reason of temperament, more interested in dodging a blow than in striking one"

Gene Tunney, Athlete

"Never eat less than four hours before boxing. Then eat only lightly"

Gene Tunney, Athlete

"When I'm boxing, if my career isn't going well, at least I feel mentally and physically strong"

Liam Hemsworth, Actor

"Muhammad Ali was the kind of guy you either loved or hated, but you wanted to see him. I happen to really love him. He brought boxing to another level and always made you laugh"

Gerry Cooney, Athlete

"All of the sports have a safety net, but boxing is the only sport that has none. So when the fighter is through, he is through. While he was fighting his management was very excited for him, but now that he is done, that management team is moving on"

Gerry Cooney, Athlete

"I like boxing movies. One of the hardest things for me to watch as far as boxing films, is the boxing. The actual boxing usually sucks"

Omar Epps, Actor

"The third man in the ring makes boxing possible"

Joyce Carol Oates, Novelist

"Boxing is a celebration of the lost religion of masculinity all the more trenchant for its being lost"

Joyce Carol Oates, Novelist

"I've been a boxing fan ever since I was a kid"

Robert Goulet, Musician

"I love boxing. There's something fierce about using your body's force that way"

Sophia Bush, Actress

"Boxing was not the sport that I thought is was due to all the politics"

Gerry Cooney, Athlete

"I developed that for a long time. I also developed 'Sugar Sweet Science' at New Line and that didn't happen. That was a boxing movie. And between all that there were a couple of other things"

Danny DeVito, Actor

"Boxing gave me the opportunities to grow into the person that I am today"

Alexis Arguello, Athlete

"What I know about Mike Tyson, I see in the boxing ring. As far as all of the gossip stuff that I hear about him, I know first hand to take that with a grain of salt"

Gerald McRaney, Actor

"Attack is only one half of the art of boxing"

Georges Carpentier, Athlete

"It's kind of ironic that the two sports with the greatest characters, boxing and horse racing, have both been on the decline. In both cases it's for the lack of a suitable hero"

Dick Schaap, Journalist

"There are a lot of things and in order to be at the top and maintain your focus you have to have something that motivates you. For me, it was what I perceived as a lack of respect from the boxing world as well as the media, which made me want to work so hard and be great"

Marvin Hagler, Athlete

"One thing I like about boxing is that I will not have to deal with the same kind of politics that I had to in skating. In boxing, it is not about your appearance, or how your costume looks, what color it is, or how much it costs"

Tonya Harding, Athlete

"Boxing is the only sport you can get your brain shook, your money took and your name in the undertaker book"

Joe Frazier, Athlete

"Boxing is about being hit rather more than it is about hitting, just as it is about feeling pain, if not devastating psychological paralysis, more than it is about winning"

Joyce Carol Oates, Novelist

"Well, of course a boxing match is hard because boxing isn't set for you to do good. You have to force your will upon someone, but dancing you don't have to force your will. It should be a lot easier because if I make a mistake I don't get hit"

Evander Holyfield, Athlete

"A boxing match is like a cowboy movie. There's got to be good guys and there's got to be bad guys. And that's what people pay for - to see the bad guys get beat"

Sonny Liston, Athlete

"In boxing, everybody has their favorites"

Thomas Hearns, Athlete

"I knew real show business from my father, who had been an actor since he left the world of boxing"

James Earl Jones, Actor

"Boxing has become America's tragic theater"

Joyce Carol Oates, Novelist

"I lost my edge for boxing, I didn't put as much into it as I did before. I didn't run as far. I didn't train as hard. I didn't eat correctly. I started drinking a little bit every now and then"

Ken Norton, Athlete

"You have a small period of time when you can perfect your career and become good at it. A lot of guys get distracted, which only hurts them. You must stay focused and work very hard at boxing"

Gerry Cooney, Athlete

"As much as I love boxing, I hate it. And as much as I hate it, I love it"

Budd Schulberg, Writer

"Well I am grooming him, he has a boxing trainer that knows what he is talking about, and once he has that he is able to put everything together and he listens, and when somebody listens they are able to accomplish anything"

Michael Moorer, Athlete

"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"

Sugar Ray Leonard, Athlete

"But I did a lot of boxing and I was captain of an Australian surf club"

Rod Taylor, Actor

"Boxing is smoky halls and kidneys battered until they bleed"

Roger Kahn, Writer

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