Gerry Cooney
I had two managers who couldn't stand each other. I had a promoter, Don King, who couldn't get any fights, and I was fighting once a year. I knocked out Norton and then didn't fight for 13 months. Then I fight the heavyweight champion of the world.
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.
It's tough waking up in the morning and reading derogatory stories about you.
I always had the hope that Holmes and I would fight again.
I never fought because of my father. I started to box before he pushed me. It had nothing to do with him.
My father would never have lost to Holmes.
You can have more than one career, but you only have one family.
I grew up in a household where I learned five things from my old man. You know what they were? You're no good. You're a failure. You're not going to amount to anything. Don't trust nobody, and don't tell nobody your business. When I lost to Larry Holmes in 1982, I felt all five of those things smacked me right across the face.
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.
About 99 percent of fighters end up broke. F.I.S.T. helps them turn the page and find new goals.
Most fighters, when they're finished, boxing turns its back on them.
When you bottom out, you have to stand up and get going again.
Anytime somebody climbs up those steps into the ring, they have a heart.
I learned a lot from the Holmes fight. I learned about styles and the pressure. I'm more prepared now.
I'm easygoing. There's a place and time for everything. When that bell rings, I'm not nice and easy. I'm not meek and passive.
You have got to not get hit. You could be the best puncher in the world, but if you're going to keep constantly taking punches you're going to lose your heart. Once you learn how to miss the punches and then you start to punch them, you become an all-around fighter.
I got messed up between my fight with Ken Norton and my fight with Larry Holmes; I got messed up with alcohol. I needed at least a year more experience, with three or four more fights before I fought Holmes. But I couldn't get any fights. Don King had all the contenders, and unless I signed myself over to him, I couldn't get a fight.Collection: Kings
All of the sports have a safety net, but boxing is the only sport that has none.Collection: Sports
The only regret I have in my career, is my managers wanted a big payday, and I wanted four or five more fights before going in with [Larry] Holmes. That would have made all the difference.Collection: Regret
Like I say, boxing was on the floor, but it got back up.Collection: Boxing
[Michael Spinks] didn't belong in the same ring as me, but I wasn't taking good care of myself because of drink and he beat me.Collection: Care
Today I have a great life. I have three kids and a beautiful wife. I play golf every day. I give to charities. I'm in a lucky position.Collection: Beautiful
The way to beat the Klitschkos is to get inside, under the jab, and bang to the body. Do that for two or three or four rounds and then the hands will come down and then you turn them over. It's like chopping a tree down. These guys try to headhunt when they fight them and that won't work. But you back them up, the younger brother especially, and he loses heart.Collection: Brother
I am a fight fan. I think boxing had its problems and kind of fell away for a while, but it's coming back strong .Collection: Strong
With the Klitschkos, though, unless someone comes around, they can stay where they are forever! The heavyweight division is lackluster, and it will be until someone comes along who can test them.Collection: Forever
A lot of the athletes moved away from boxing, into UFC - which I think is really crazy, where they elbow to the head and knee to the jaw. I think that's really a barbaric sport - but boxing is coming back.Collection: Sports
I like the Klitschko boys, I think they're in a class of their own. I like Manny Pacquiao. All the super-middleweights are great.Collection: Boys
Had I had another year, I think I would've beaten [ Harry Carpenter] - and Larry Holmes even said that himself; that if I'd had another year to get ready I'd have beaten him. Me and he are good friends today though, and that fight was a great moment for me. I lost, but then I had to move on and get on with my life.Collection: Moving
Gil Clancy told me to move around for six or seven rounds, but when you're a puncher and you catch someone, you got after them. And in that fight [with George Foreman in 1999] my timing was off and I got caught.Collection: Moving