Boxer quotes thread

[Anomalocaris]

Sonny Liston -

'The only limits are the ones you set for yourself.'

'Believe in yourself, even if no one else does.'

'Dream big, work hard and never give up.'

'Success is not a destination, it's a journey.'

'Don't let your past define your future.'

'Fear is just an illusion, it's what you do with it that matters.'

'Champions aren't born. They are made in the moments when no one is watching.'

Does this sound like the braindead thug of popular myth?

There are loads more.

Yes he was uneducated, yes the Mafia had him in their clutches, but he was also a highly intelligent man and behind the awesome facade a deeply sensitive and hurt one.

[Dr Z]

Most fighters can get up but choose not to. M. Ali

[JAB5239]

"I knew I had him when he dropped his right after that left hook.I'm glad I won, but sorry I had to do it to him."

Rocky Marciano
(On his win against Joe Louis in 1951)

[JAB5239]

"Ever since I came into this world, I have always struggled to survive and lead a reasonably normal life. Never been able to do this. "
Sonny Liston

[JAB5239]

“You need a .45 to keep Frazier off you.”
Bob Foster

(after his loss to Joe Frazier in 1970)

[JAB5239]

"You can map out a fight plan or a life plan but when the action starts it may not go the way you planned, and you're down to your reflexes. My fight with Ali in Manila was like that. We called it the 'Thrilla in Manila, It was one of the hardest fights of my life, not just physically but mentally.
I could barely see out of my eyes! But my spirit was what kept me going. Every punch - every moment was about proving to myself I could go beyond my limits."

Joe Frazier

[JAB5239]

“If my mind can conceive it and my heart can believe it , then I can achieve it”
Muhammad Ali

[JAB5239]

"I felt I won the fight. It was my time to shine, and they ripped me off. I'm the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, and the whole world knows it. He [Holyfield] should give me those two belts because he knows they're mine."
Lennox Lewis
(On his drawn fight with Evander Holyfield on 13th March 1999)

[JAB5239]

“You must aim like a marksman for the point of the chin. If you land, it is the end.”
Georges Carpentier

[JAB5239]

- Boxing is a drug like no other. It gets into your bloodstream. It owns your thoughts. There’s a reason fighters struggle to walk away because once you've tasted it, nothing else compares.

It’s not just the adrenaline or the high of the win. It’s the silence you feel in the ring, the clarity. Every noise fades. Every problem outside those ropes vanishes. In that moment, there’s just you, your breath, your instincts, your will. It’s the purest form of being alive.

You train for weeks to land one perfect shot. One clean slip. One moment where your body and mind move as one. And when it happens, it feels like time bends. There’s nothing else in the world that gives you that feeling. That discipline. That danger. That dance.

Boxing does not just build you. It breaks you, rebuilds you, and then dares you to want more. You walk away bruised but more complete than before. It is a hard addiction because it is not always kind. But the truth is, even when it hurts, you still crave it.

Because once you have been in the fight, nothing else feels real.

-Author unknown