Boxing is a sport where you can never take anything for granted. The smallest margin of error alter your career…and life. To succeed, skill and talent alone is not enough, but instead, the will to win is worth much more.
Here are 30 of the most inspirational & motivational boxing quotes ever.
1 “Bruce Lee was an artist and, like him, I try to go beyond the fundamentals of my sport. I want the public to see a knockout in the making.� – Sugar Ray Leonard
2 “Rhythm is everything in boxing. Every move you make starts with your heart, and that’s in rhythm or you’re in trouble.� – Sugar Ray Robinson, considered by many to be the greatest boxer of all time.
3 “The question isn’t at what age I want to retire, it’s at what income.� – George Foreman at age 45, on his fight with Michael Moorer
4 “His mouth made him feel like he was gonna win. Not his hands, I had my hand. He had his lips.� – Joe Frazier on his fight with Muhammad Ali
5 “The tempt for greatness is the biggest drug in the world.� – Mike Tyson
6 “He can have heart, he can hit harder and he can be stronger, but there’s no fighter smarter than me.� – Floyd “Money� Mayweather Jr.
7 “I fight for perfection� – “Iron� Mike Tyson
8 “Sure the fight was fixed. I fixed it with a right hand.� – George Foreman on his fight with Michael Moorer
9 “The loss just made me hungry; it made me want to go out and win another title.� – Thomas “Hitman� Hearns on his first loss to at the hands of Sugar Ray Leonard
10 “The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses—behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.� – Muhammad Ali
11 “In order to be at the top and maintain your focus you have to have something that motivates you. For me, it was what I perceived as a lack of respect from the boxing world as well as the media, which made me want to work so hard and be great.� – “Marvellous� Marvin Hagler
12 “He saved my life, he saved my career. I can’t thank him enough for the chance to fight him.� – Ken Norton, 5-1 underdog seizing his opportunity and winning his fight against Muhammad Ali.
13 “Getting hit motivates me. It makes me punish the guy more. A fighter takes a punch, hits back with three punches.� – Roberto “Hands of Stone� Duran
14 “The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero uses his fear, projects it onto his opponent, while the coward runs. It’s the same thing, fear, but it’s what you do with it that matters.� – Legendary trainer, Cus D’Amato
15 “The possession of muscular strength and the courage to use it in contests with other men for physical supremacy does not necessarily imply a lack of appreciation for the finer and better things of life.� – First black world heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson
16 “If you screw things up in tennis, it’s 15-love. If you screw up in boxing, it’s your ass.� – Randall “Tex� Cobb
17 “I’m not God, but I am something similar.� – Roberto “Hands of Stone� Duran
18 “To see a man beaten not by a better opponent but by himself is a tragedy.� – Cus D’Amato
19 “I was painfully initiated into boxing, because the guys I fought were a lot bigger than me.� – Sugar Ray Leonard
20 “Boxing is the toughest and loneliest sport in the world.� – Frank Bruno
21 “In boxing you create a strategy to beat each new opponent, it’s just like chess.� – Lennox Lewis
22 “I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion’.â€? – Muhammad Ali
23 “It’s less about the physical training, in the end, than it is about the mental preparation: boxing is a chess game. You have to be skilled enough and have trained hard enough to know how many different ways you can counterattack in any situation, at any moment.� – Jimmy Smits
24 “That’s the most beautiful thing that I like about boxing: you can take a punch. The biggest thing about taking a punch is your ego reacts and there’s no better spiritual lesson than trying to not pay attention to your ego’s reaction.� – David O Russell
25 “To become a champion, fight one more round.� – James Corbett
26 “A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.� – Jack Dempsey
27 “The man who has no imagination has no wings.� – Muhammad Ali
28 “Don’t count the days, make the days count.� – Muhammad Ali
29 “When I was a young fellow I was knocked down plenty. I wanted to stay down, but I couldn’t. I had to collect the two dollars for winning or go hungry. I had to get up. I was one of those hungry fighters. You could have hit me on the chin with a sledgehammer for five dollars. When you haven’t eaten for two days you’ll understand.� – J.Dempsey
30 “To be a champ you have to believe in yourself when no one else will.� – Sugar Ray Robinson
To get the most out of your training, I highly recommend the following articles:
â–º How to Increase Punching Power
â–º 10 Tips to Improve Boxing Footwork
â–º Boxing Basics
â–º Top 10 Best Heavy Punching Bags
â–º Top 10 Best Boxing Gloves