Greatest boxing quote of all-time

Over the years there have been many motor-mouth boxers who have spouted all sorts verbal delights. Some has been great, some weird and some plain rubbish. Of course there is the genius of Ali, and the modern day pretenders such as Hopkins and Haye. There has also been some great quotes from fictional fighters such as Rocky Balboa. What is you favourite quote of all-time?

Boxing

Classic Ali quote-

Fifteen referees. I want fifteen referees to be at this fight because
there ain't no one man who can keep up with the pace I'm gonna set
except me. There's not a man alive who can whup me. I'm too fast. I'm
too smart. I'm too pretty. I should be a postage stamp. That's the
only way I'll ever get licked.

Morning, Geoff.

My first pick would be ANYTHING from Tex Cobb.

Next up, Willie Pep :

How are you doing, Willie ?

Great, I've got a wife and a TV, and they're both working.

Ex opponent to Willie :

Do you remember me, Willie ?

Lie down, it'll make it easier.

Jake LaMotta, when a drunk swung at him in a bar :

If you hit me, and I find out about it, you'll be in a world of trouble.

Lol, some great ones there Humanwindmill. Mine is one from Rocky, it's a bit long winded and more motivational than funny - but brilliant none-the-less. I'll post later when at home

"The bell went ding, and I went dong." Lloyd Honeyghan after his fight with Johnny Bumphus, where at the start of a round he rushed across the ring and hit Bumphus while he was still more or less sat on his stool.

"You call me a rap*st and a recluse. I'm not a recluse." Mike Tyson.

"As you saw, I hit him and his legs turned to spaghetti - and then I was all over him like the sauce." James Toney.

"I'll fight Lloyd Honeyghan for nothing if the money's right!" Marlon Starling.

"A champion is someone who gets up when he can't." Jack Dempsey.

Stanley Ketchel's manager, on being told that Ketchel had been shot dead :

Start counting ten over him. He'll get up.

McIlvanney had some great ones:
Bugner had "the physique of a Greek statue, but fewer moves", Bodell(?) "Looked like he learnt his footwork in a deep sea diving school", Johnny Owen "The kind of physique that makes him elusive when he is standing still". In reference to the 'No Mas' fight after someone commented Duran never gives you the ball. "Realising that Leonard was taking the ball away from him for keeps, Duran resolved to put a knife in it."

To me, boxing is like a ballet except there's no music, no choreography and the dancers hit each other (Handy)

All the time he's boxing he's thinking. All the time he was thinking I was hitting him (Dempsey)

Foreman - "Bob, I can't chase these guys anymore."
Arum - "George, I cant put it in the contracts that they can't run."

My favorite Muhhamed Ali quote

"I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick; I'm so mean I make medicine sick."

The first Joe Louis versus Billy Conn fight in 1941 spawned two or three classics all by itself.

"He can run, but he can't hide." Joe Louis beforehand.

"Of all the times I had to pick to be a wise guy, it had to be against him." A rueful Billy Conn, years later, reflecting on his costly tactics of fighting Louis' fight in that thirteenth round.

HumanWindmill wrote:Stanley Ketchel's manager, on being told that Ketchel had been shot dead :

Start counting ten over him. He'll get up.

I love that one. I also like Jack Dempsey's supposed last words of "don't worry honey, I'm too mean to die", or something thereabouts.

Likewise your Dempsey one, BALTI.

Max Baer was in a hotel when he succumbed to the heart attack which killed him. A waiter allegedly asked him : " Shall I send for the house doctor ? " to which Max is said to have replied :

I'd rather you get me a people doctor.

I know it's not really a quote as such, but I'll never forget Chris Eubank on 'Top of the Pops' as a guest presenter, having to announce: "...and at thixth itth Thuggth with 'Thethelia'."

Ha ha that reminds me of when Eubank-Benn 2 was being previewed by Jonathan Ross and they went via videophone to James Toney

"I'd kick Eubank's an' his Momma's a$$"

"The man ith an idiot! He ith talking about my mother!"

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

Joe Frazier

Boxing is the only sport where the lions are scared of the rats.

Larry Holmes in reference to Don King.

Mr Bounce wrote:Ha ha that reminds me of when Eubank-Benn 2 was being previewed by Jonathan Ross and they went via videophone to James Toney

"I'd kick Eubank's an' his Momma's a$$"

"The man ith an idiot! He ith talking about my mother!"

Just looking for the exact quote. He actually called Toney an 'ignorant man'. Classic Eubank.

If it bleeds, we can kill it

"If you screw things up in tennis, it's 15-love. If you screw up in boxing, it's your ass." - Randall Cobb

Sure there have been injuries and deaths in boxing - but none of them serious." - Alan Minter

James De Gale:

Listen, listen ugly kid, you know what? You errr you errrr, ............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. sorry forgotten what i was going to say now.

"The buture's fright, the buture's Chunky. Trust me."

"I want to rip out his heart and feed it to Lennox Lewis. I want to kill people. I want to rip their stomachs out and eat their children." - Mike Tyson

The three toughest fighters I've ever been up against were Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Sugar Ray Robinson. I fought Sugar so many times, I'm surprised I'm not diabetic! But I did have him off the canvas once...when he stepped over my body to leave the ring." - Jake LaMotta

I love the Lamotta one. what a legend

Not a qoute or anything really, but when Ricky Hatton was talking about FMJ he said
"I've been away from 7 year old son in training, now you might imagine that I've missed them, but not quite as much as you might think considering I've been dealing with another 7 year old" Looks at FMJ

From the champions forever dinner with Norton, Ali, Frazier, Foreman and Holmes.
(paraphrasing slightly the start)
"I went to try and get served in a downtown place, I went in there wearing my gold medal and ordered a cheeseburger. They said we don't serve negros. I said I don't eat negros just gimme a damn hamburger!" - Muhammad Ali

Let me tell you something you already know. The World ain’t all sunshine and rainbows. It’s a very mean and nasty place, and I don’t care how tough you are it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me and nobody is going to hit as hard as life. But it ain’t about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward – that’s how winning is done.

Rocky!

Truss' article about Spinks reminded me of what Larry Holmes said about him:

"How's that skinny boy going to hurt me? Surely not with his fists?"

Superb

Hector Camacho - "People would appreciate me more if I was to die young like James Dean...But I don't want to have to wait that long"