Top 50 Gerry Cooney Quotes

Some have made boxing a terrible thing to be around.

I was embarrassing against Spinks.

I learned a lot from the Holmes fight. I learned about styles and the pressure. I’m more prepared now.

Growing up training, I use to get up so early I would wave to the garbage men going by. So, I had this relationship with Blue Collar America and I really liked it. I felt that lots of those people looked forward to me winning.

Too many guys don’t know what to do with their lives after boxing. I was lucky because I had two managers who didn’t trust each other, and so they were always making sure where all the money was, and because of that, so did I.

My father would never have lost to Holmes.

I’m one crazy, crazy guy.

I grew up in a big Irish, Catholic family. My dad was a pretty rough guy. So one of my brothers left home when he was 15 and found his way to the gym. It gave me the opportunity to go and spend some time with him and work out in the gym.

When I see a fighter gets into the ring, I not only see the fighter, but I see his wife and children. I care about what happens to them. I care about what happens to that fighter after he gets out of the ring.

It’s tough waking up in the morning and reading derogatory stories about you.

If my son wants a boxing career, I won’t stop him, but I definitely won’t push him. It’s bad for a kid to be pressured.

All of the sports have a safety net, but boxing is the only sport that has none. So when the fighter is through, he is through. While he was fighting his management was very excited for him, but now that he is done, that management team is moving on.

Am I complicated? Nah, I’m interesting. I just like having a good time.

The past is yesterday. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

It’s like you always think that when you get to a goal, you’ll be happy. But then there is always something else that interests you.

I never fought because of my father. I started to box before he pushed me. It had nothing to do with him.

Everybody handles pressure differently.

Looking back, I couldn’t get enough fights because Don King owned most of the top 10 fighters, and he never gave me a fight.

I always felt I was wounded. That I was no good, a piece of crap, and that I wouldn’t amount to anything, because that’s what my father always told me. I just felt like I didn’t belong anywhere.

I know I can fight; that’s the only thing that matters to me.

The fight with Holmes was a plus. I gained so much experience.

Boxing was a way to express my anger. All of a sudden, I was expressing anger, and I was good at it. I was like a Jekyll and Hyde. Boxing helped me because I was fighting the anger out. I was knocking guys out.

Fighting is not something you can just turn off.

When somebody used to compliment me, I’d spend 10 minutes trying to talk them out of it.

When you bottom out, you have to stand up and get going again.

I want to get me one of those titles.

When I get finished with fighting, I hope they ask the same questions. It’s not my purpose to answer them. Boxing is the art of self-defense. I knock ’em out the first chance I get.

I lost three times in my career. Losing to Holmes I could deal with, because I lost to a true champion.

I just like people. We have a good time together.

It’s great playing a sport where you don’t get hit in the head.

Drug abuse is a very difficult disease.

By the time you’re 30 years old, you can be on a nowhere street, if you’re not careful.

You have a small period of time when you can perfect your career and become good at it. A lot of guys get distracted, which only hurts them. You must stay focused and work very hard at boxing.

Boxing gave me a voice to express the anger I felt for where I came from.

I don’t want anybody guarding me. I want to be free; I want to be left alone… I would like to go out there and have no one know me, but at the same time, it would bother me, y’know.

What hurt most were the people who came up to me and said they lost $1,000 on me. It just makes you mad.

It’s like I had two things pulling at me: you want to be a fighter, and you have problems. So I couldn’t be a fighter, and I wasn’t solving any problems.

Maybe I’ll go to acting school. Acting is like boxing, you know.

If you look at my career, towards the end you will see I was fighting like once a year. I was not part of the Don King top heavyweights, so I was kind of kept out. His guys were getting three to four fights a year and I could only get one.

I’m a happy guy. I just want to see people laugh and smile.

I always had the hope that Holmes and I would fight again.

Roberto Duran was the kind of guy who was a true fighter and you hardly see guys like that anymore.

People haven’t seen enough of me. My fights haven’t gone the distance, and people have a lot of questions. I want to find out for myself as much as the people do. I want to find out what I can do.

It takes a strong person to admit he’s got problems. Things are bugging you, you’ve got to get it out. Life is supposed to be peaches and cream, but it doesn’t turn out that way. I sometimes found things confusing and sometimes didn’t understand how things can be so difficult.

I am involved in minor league baseball. I go around the country speaking to troubled youths, trying to help them understand that whatever path they choose, they’ll need to really pay attention to it.

I’ve just had some bad luck. I’ve had every injury known to man. I understand how people think, ‘How can this be happening all the time to Gerry Cooney?’ But it did.

For every athlete, the roar of the crowd goes away, and we have to learn how to turn the page.

Long Island has a great boxing tradition.

I was lucky. I held on to some of my money. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do after boxing. But I found what I wanted to do.

Winning the Gloves made me believe I was somebody.