Boxing has lost its glamour and excitement. I’m going to bring it back.
I do actually use a boxing trainer when I train for stand-up.
Dementia pugilistica was discovered in 1928… And we still have boxing. Football will continue.
Boxing has been around for a while and there’s a lot of great examples of what to do and what not to do. You can look at those examples and learn from other people’s mistakes without having to go through it the hard way.
I’ve seen George Foreman shadow boxing, and the shadow won.
People can dress it up however they want to, but boxing is life and death.
Teofilo Stevenson won his first Olympic gold medal in 1972 and his last world amateur championship in 1986. He won 302 fights and once went an unbelievable 11 years without a loss. Had Cuba not boycotted the 1984 Summer Olympics, many think Stevenson would have won an unmatched four gold medals in boxing.
I’m not going to be boxing forever, but I’ve put no time-cap on it, really.
I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I’m in a world of my own.
A lot of writers, probably because they’re sensitive, which makes them want to be writers, have fears about their masculinity, so they overcompensate by having an interest in boxing and tough-guy things.
In those days, boxing was very glamorous and romantic. You listened to fights on the radio, and a good announcer made it seem like a contest between gladiators.
I knew real show business from my father, who had been an actor since he left the world of boxing.
I was training in Gleason’s Gym on 30th and 8th Avenue, where it was the Mecca of boxing, and a guy walked in who couldn’t rub two quarters together and said, ‘Did you ever think of being on TV?’ And somehow I ended up in ‘Taxi,’ which is the craziest thing of all.
I think it’s really important to mix cardio with toning, so I love boxing and then add in Pilates or ballet to keep me long and lean and avoid bulking up.
The Olympics are the biggest thing in boxing and the more you do as an amateur, the better deal you get as a pro.
I know there is trouble in boxing. People say it is no longer good. But I cannot take responsibility. I am not a missionary for boxing.
If, in 10 years, or 20 or 30 years, you sit down with your friends and talk about boxing, you need to remember my name.
Boxing has been very, very good to me.
With kangaroos, you say ‘Sit!’ and they start boxing with you. They’re nuts!
People want to see real skill level, real Jiu Jitsu, real boxing, put together and mixed up. They want to see mixed martial arts. They don’t want to see five minutes of holding. I think there should be points deducted when you do that.
To say what I would have been if I wasn’t boxing, I don’t know why, but I always wanted to be an x-ray technician or a substitute teacher. Those two occupations always stuck with me, maybe because my substitute teacher didn’t give us homework, or because I’ve always had x-rays of my hands.
I’m training and preparing because nothing is predictable in boxing. I’m preparing for those rounds, and if it happens that I get a shot, whatever advantage I have, I will be ready for 12 rounds.
I only went into a gym by accident. My mum couldn’t get a babysitter and wanted to do aerobics, so she took me and Kurtis, my younger brother, down to the gym. There was an after-school boxing class on with some of the kids from school. There weren’t any other girls there, but I didn’t mind. I loved it.
Boxing will always be in my life.
You do a deal – business deal, real estate deal, stock deal – protect yourself at all times. I got that from boxing. That’s from A to Z: that covers everything in life. And it started when I heard it in the ring. They don’t say that in basketball or football or any other sport that I know of but boxing.
Never give up, which is the lesson I learned from boxing. As soon as you learn to never give up, you have to learn the power and wisdom of unconditional surrender, and that one doesn’t cancel out the other; they just exist as contradictions. The wisdom of it comes as you get older.
I’m a big expert in boxing, but in politics I’m a beginner, so I try to use other people’s experience. I read books; I’m not afraid to ask for advice.
I train for at least two hours, three times a day – weights, bench-press, push-ups, running, sparring, boxing sessions – so I must be burning off a lot of calories. But I don’t weigh myself too often – just once every day.
In boxing, you get hit, it’s painful, then you sit on the stool when the adrenaline is gone and you feel that pain. And then you fight the next round.
I’d love to be the Ali of women’s boxing, to retire as the greatest.
When archaeologists discover the missing arms of Venus de Milo, they will find she was wearing boxing gloves.
Most fighters, when they’re finished, boxing turns its back on them.
I like very much to ride horses. I like soccer, I have had a passion for boxing since I was a child, although it would be stupid for me to box.
The boxing game has been good, so we need to give back. We have to teach young men how to be men.
Boxing was my destiny.
My dad was a prize fighter in his youth. My boxing skills are very limited. I did train for most of my youth but couldn’t really see the point of getting punched in the head. I’m a lover, not a fighter, but I do enjoy the sport in its purest form. As a child, my heroes were my dad and Muhammad Ali.
Boxing is not about your feelings. It’s about performance.
Boxing changed my life twice.
Boxing brings out my aggressive instinct, not necessarily a killer instinct.
In boxing, everybody has their favorites.
From the beginning, when my brother Vadim first took me to the boxing gym at 10, I was able to punch hard, and the coach always put me with older boys because of that.
I don’t play video games. My husband does. He plays sometimes the football, and every once in a while when he gets bored, he’ll do a little boxing in there. He gets into the football. You can trade players, and he keeps up with the whole aspect of the game, not just the game. He’s a fanatic.
I retired when I was 30, with all my marbles and a few bucks. But a lot of guys leave boxing penniless with no skills. Men in their 30s and early 40s, old for boxing, young in life, but also old in the job market if you’re just getting started with no education. These guys need someone in their corner.
I can’t predict the future of football. I don’t think it’ll go the way of boxing because it’s a team sport. It’s built into our education systems, the flagship for a lot of universities’ fundraising campaigns. So no, I don’t think it’ll go away.
Fight prep, boxing, cardio, stretching. It’s almost like dancing, you have to learn to dance and keep practicing it.
No one’s going to hold your hand in the boxing business. And the people who do end up ripping you off.
We both do a lot of similar things with speed and boxing ability, but I think I’ve got some tricks up my sleeve for Zab. Zab will probably tell you he’s got some tricks up his sleeve for me.
It would be a dream to be the face of boxing, to be No. 1.
In boxing, some fighters let the occasion get to them and they let their opponent get to them. With me, it’s just another day at the office.
Boxing fans are a very cynical bunch.
At the end of the day, I am the cash cow in women’s boxing.
I think my grandmother saw my potential first. When I was young, I told her, ‘I think I should get a job.’ She said, ‘No, just keep boxing.’
Since leaving cricket, I’ve tried my hand at professional boxing, a live stage show, and working for TV. I’ve had some interesting experiences, including working with the former basketball player Dennis Rodman.
You’re always just one punch away from getting hurt. But look, if it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen. I think I’m going to walk out of this sport of boxing when I think it’s the right time.
My life has been very much a roller coaster ride. Not just the boxing part, not just the acting part, just my childhood, what I was into at a young age and the things I was exposed to, it’s just very abnormal.
There’s a lot psychologically going on in boxing… I think I relate to some of it. I have a respect for it. It’s like performing, but it’s also this crazy, self-destructive thing.
When I walk for a designer, I walk the ramp as Vijender Singh, the boxer. I believe that by doing so, boxing will at least, in some way, get promoted in our entertainment industry. Plus, if cricketers can, why can’t I?
I was 11 when I started boxing. My brother was fighting before I did, and he got me into it.
I’m back in Boston. I own an outdoor deck hockey rink, and I own a boxing gym here also.
Boxing, mixed martial arts and tennis are the hardest sports to train for.
There’s a lot of big guys who can play-make. We put labels like, ‘Oh, he’s a point guard, he’s a center.’ But sometimes your center can play-make for you and not just be the center, boxing out for rebounds and playing in the post.
I was a tiger, a good fighter, in good shape, but I was always nervous before boxing matches.
Boxing is a sport. We allow each other to hit each other, but I’m not treating my opponent like my enemy. We’re doing a job to entertain people.
