Jake LaMotta
All my life, I wanted to be champion.
I waited all those years for a title shot, and when I finally got it, I had to pay $20,000 for the opportunity. My purse was only $18,000. So to make money, I had to bet $10,000 on myself at 8-5. That was how it was in those days.
I was tough at a very young age, where I was just fighting all the time.
You have to treat everybody the right way. Otherwise, you'll have a short life. God bless.
You can't think about the past anymore.
I don't know how to back up.
My greatest defense was my offense. Very few guys did that.
Even when I was hurt, I was always the aggressor, no matter what.
The world knows me as the Raging Bull.
I fought Sugar Ray Robinson so many times, it's a wonder I don't have diabetes.
I had such a crazy life. How I got away with it, I don't know.
I hypnotized myself so in my subconscious, I believed I couldn't get hurt. And I don't mean 'believe' - I mean believe believe believe.
When I was a kid, I wanted to fight Joe Louis. But I think if I had seen Mike Tyson at that time, I would have said, 'Nah, I don't want to fight him.' He's deadly. He could have been one of the great heavyweight champions. But he goofed.
God's been pretty good to me. He made me duck all those punches that were supposed to land.
Most people aren't good or bad. They're naive.
Subconsciously - I didn't know it then, I realize it today when I know a little bit more about the mind and the brain - I fought like I didn't deserve to live.
My nose was broken six times, my hands six times, a few fractured ribs. Fifty stitches over my eyes. But the only place I got hurt was out of the ring.
Fear is unnecessary.
I fought Sugar Ray six times. Pound for pound the greatest fighter who ever lived.
Most of the time, husbands and wives argue about stupid, foolish things. If it doesn't mean that much to you, give in to your wife.
Lot of guys can take punches. The idea is not to take unnecessary punishment.
I'm no angel.
I purposely lost a fight to Billy Fox because they promised me that I would get a shot to fight for the title if I did.
Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve.
I play solitaire and wait for something to happen.
I forget stuff. Guess I took a few too many punches.
There's a lot of people all over the world that talked about me.
You can't go into the ring and be a nice guy.
You can't fight if you have any compassion or anything like that.
I used to psyche myself out. Only, back then, we didn't know the word 'psyche.'
I been in jail twice. The first time was reform school: they got me for carrying burglar's tools, something like that. The morals charge was a frame-up.
Forward, always moving forward, from the time I can remember - a kid. I was short, and the big guys would take advantage; I had to turn myself into a body puncher. By that time I was in reform school, they'd have a boxing match every week; they'd bring guys in from outside to fight me.
Something's bound to happen to you in a tough fight: cut eye, broken nose or broken hand or something like that. So you could make excuses out of anything, you know, but you got to keep on going if you're a champ or you're a contender.
I guess God blessed me with a hard head, because I really didn't feel punches.
I conditioned myself many years ago that nobody could hurt me.
All my life I made a living out of hurting people. Now, I make a living out of making people laugh.
You know what's the greatest sin in the world? Hurting your fellow man.
I was able to convince my body that I could take it and nobody could hurt me. I might've gotten cut, stitches over my eyes. Broken nose. Broken hands. But I never really got hurt.
The three toughest fighters I fought were Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Sugar Ray Robinson.
I never went to church. The priests couldn't scare me with all that crap about hell, but somehow I knew, inside of me somehow, I knew that I'd pay for it.
I wanted to get punished, and I took unnecessary punishment when I was fighting.
I wasn't born to be a fighter. My hands are too small, and look at these short arms.
When you break bones, they heal up and come back even stronger.
I'm the Godfather of Boxing. Everything is out in the open with me. What you see is what you get.
I ask for personal appearance fees because I've earned them. I deserve them. My presence at events is what they need, so they ought to pay for it.
There was only one thing I wanted out of life. That was to be the champ.
There's no pensions for old prize fighters.
I made a million, and I lost a million.
I've learned a lot about life besides how to take a punch. And I've taken quite a few in and out of the ring.
Ask most guys what their ambition is, and they'll say they want to get rich. But when they get rich, they discover it's not what they wanted at all. I don't want to be rich.