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Famous for his wit and wisdom, here is a sampling of Cobb's most memorable quotes.
On fighting:
'If you screw up in tennis, it's 15-love. If you screw up in boxing, it's your ass baby.'
'I've always believed the greatest crime a man can do is to take himself too seriously. Something like fighting is pretty ridiculous to take seriously. What I do is hit people. I'm not promoting anything that is real or valuable.'
'The toughest thing to do in the ring is restrain myself. I want to knock the other guy in the groin, but I know I'm not allowed to do that.'
'All I want to do is hit somebody in the mouth. It's a whole lot easier than working for a living. Don't make anything noble out of what I do.'
'I'lll fight any white man, black man, brown man or man of any other colour. I especially like it when they're yellow and having physical or mental breakdowns when they step in the ring.'
'I'd love to fight Gerry Cooney. But I have my price: twenty five cents and a loose woman.'
'Here's big, bad Earnie Shavers, probably the baddest man God ever allowed to walk on two legs, and he got up there with his bald head and his Fu Manchu and his bulging muscles and he stared at me. I cracked up. What did he think I was gonna do, leave? Hell, if I was that scared I woulda left before then.'
'Anybody can hit as hard as Earnie Shavers. The thing that makes Earnie Shavers so significant is that Earnie Shavers is gonna hit you that hard every single time he lays leather on you. I had never been in a situation like Earnie before. And if I have anything to do with it, I'm damn sure not gonna get into it again.'
Holmes doesn't hit as hard as Shavers. Nobody hits like Shavers. If anybody hit harder than Shavers, I'd shoot him.'
On being accused of talking to Holmes during their fight:
'If I wanted to communicate with Larry during the fight, I would have had to send him a letter. Every time I wanted to say something I found it hard speaking because he kept putting his left hand in my mouth.'
To the referree in the 13th round of the Holmes fight:
'Hey, you're white. Why don't you do something about this?'
To Holmes at the final bell:
'Let's party'.
On a rematch with Holmes:
'I don't think his hands could take the punishment.'
On Cosell's retirement during the fight:
'I can do my sport no greater service than this.'
'I'll do anything to keep from working for a living. If I've gotta fight a circus bear then put the drawers on him and let's get it on'.
On the fighter's life:
'You run for forty-five minutes, you train for an hour and a half, the rest of the time you hang out and talk tough'.
On being floored for the first time in his life:
'Nah, it didn't affect me. I just got up and carried on with my gameplan; stumbling forward, getting hit in the face.'
'I been knocked out once, by a Mexican bantamweight. How come? Six of my pals were swinging him round by the heels at the time.'
'Don King is one of the great humanitarians of our time. He has risen above that great term prejudice. He has screwed everybody he has ever been around. Hog, dog or frog, it don’t matter to Don. If you got a quarter, he wants the first twenty-six cents.'
On fighting:
'If you screw up in tennis, it's 15-love. If you screw up in boxing, it's your ass baby.'
'I've always believed the greatest crime a man can do is to take himself too seriously. Something like fighting is pretty ridiculous to take seriously. What I do is hit people. I'm not promoting anything that is real or valuable.'
'The toughest thing to do in the ring is restrain myself. I want to knock the other guy in the groin, but I know I'm not allowed to do that.'
'All I want to do is hit somebody in the mouth. It's a whole lot easier than working for a living. Don't make anything noble out of what I do.'
'I'lll fight any white man, black man, brown man or man of any other colour. I especially like it when they're yellow and having physical or mental breakdowns when they step in the ring.'
'I'd love to fight Gerry Cooney. But I have my price: twenty five cents and a loose woman.'
'Here's big, bad Earnie Shavers, probably the baddest man God ever allowed to walk on two legs, and he got up there with his bald head and his Fu Manchu and his bulging muscles and he stared at me. I cracked up. What did he think I was gonna do, leave? Hell, if I was that scared I woulda left before then.'
'Anybody can hit as hard as Earnie Shavers. The thing that makes Earnie Shavers so significant is that Earnie Shavers is gonna hit you that hard every single time he lays leather on you. I had never been in a situation like Earnie before. And if I have anything to do with it, I'm damn sure not gonna get into it again.'
Holmes doesn't hit as hard as Shavers. Nobody hits like Shavers. If anybody hit harder than Shavers, I'd shoot him.'
On being accused of talking to Holmes during their fight:
'If I wanted to communicate with Larry during the fight, I would have had to send him a letter. Every time I wanted to say something I found it hard speaking because he kept putting his left hand in my mouth.'
To the referree in the 13th round of the Holmes fight:
'Hey, you're white. Why don't you do something about this?'
To Holmes at the final bell:
'Let's party'.
On a rematch with Holmes:
'I don't think his hands could take the punishment.'
On Cosell's retirement during the fight:
'I can do my sport no greater service than this.'
'I'll do anything to keep from working for a living. If I've gotta fight a circus bear then put the drawers on him and let's get it on'.
On the fighter's life:
'You run for forty-five minutes, you train for an hour and a half, the rest of the time you hang out and talk tough'.
On being floored for the first time in his life:
'Nah, it didn't affect me. I just got up and carried on with my gameplan; stumbling forward, getting hit in the face.'
'I been knocked out once, by a Mexican bantamweight. How come? Six of my pals were swinging him round by the heels at the time.'
'Don King is one of the great humanitarians of our time. He has risen above that great term prejudice. He has screwed everybody he has ever been around. Hog, dog or frog, it don’t matter to Don. If you got a quarter, he wants the first twenty-six cents.'
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