A champion owes everybody something. He can never pay back for all the help he got, for making him an idol.
A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.
Tall men come down to my height when I hit ’em in the body.
Don’t worry honey, I’m too mean to die.
You know what a champion is? A champion is someone who’s ready when the gong rings – not just before, not just after – but when it rings.
All the time he’s boxing, he’s thinking. All the time he was thinking, I was hitting him.
Nobody owes anybody a living, but everybody is entitled to a chance.
By forgetting the past and by throwing myself into other interests, I forget to worry.
The best defense is a good offense.
A Gentle Man and a Gentleman.
I never went to bed in my life and I never ate a meal in my life without saying a prayer. I know my prayers have been answered thousands of times, and I know that I never said a prayer in my life without something good coming of it.
Tell him he can have my title, but I want it back in the morning.
I was a pretty good fighter. But it was the writers who made me great.
Honey, I just forgot to duck.
Nailing him was like trying to thread a needle in a high wind.
A good fighter usually knows, to within a very few seconds, when a three-minute round is going to end.
When you’re fighting, you’re righting for one thing – money.