Skip to main content

Motivation Quote by Evander Holyfield

"Well, number one I like dancing. Number two I knew it would be challenging because I had never done this type of dance before. I always wanted to and I happened to have the courage to go out there and give it my best shot"

About this Quote

Holyfield’s charm here is how unapologetically straightforward it is: a checklist of motives that sounds almost too plain for a legend whose career was built on mythic violence and endurance. “Number one I like dancing” lands as disarming on purpose. It pulls him out of the heavyweight archetype and into something more human, even lightly comic. The subtext is a quiet rebuttal to the idea that masculinity has to be one-note. A man known for taking punches is also allowed to enjoy rhythm.

“Number two I knew it would be challenging” shifts the frame from novelty to discipline. Holyfield isn’t selling dance as a cute detour; he’s treating it like another arena with rules, risk, and public consequence. That’s the athlete’s mind at work: challenge is the point, not the obstacle. The line “I had never done this type of dance before” preempts skepticism. He’s not claiming natural grace; he’s claiming willingness to be bad at something in front of everyone, which is its own form of toughness.

The real engine is “courage.” In sports, courage usually means absorbing physical damage. In a pop-cultural setting like a televised dance competition, courage becomes reputational: letting the audience see you learn, stumble, and try again. “Give it my best shot” borrows boxing language to translate the unfamiliar into something he owns. It’s a pivot from domination to vulnerability, packaged in the familiar cadence of a champion explaining why he stepped into the ring.

Quote Details

TopicMotivational
More Quotes by Evander Add to List
Evander Holyfield on Dancing, Courage, and Humility
Click to enlarge Portrait | Landscape

About the Author

Evander Holyfield

Evander Holyfield (born October 19, 1962) is a Athlete from USA.

5 more quotes available

View Profile

Similar Quotes

Vivien Leigh, Actress
Mikhail Baryshnikov, Dancer
Issey Miyake, Designer
Issey Miyake