Boxer quotes thread

[JAB5239]

'Greb was my sparring partner once. He was the fastest thing I ever saw in action. Hitting him is one of life's most difficult jobs, because he's never set for a second, never comes at you the same way twice, never does anything in ring warfare which can be called orthodox. He's always doing the unexpected and because he does, he's one of those phantom targets which you can hit more through luck than through the use of skill.'

- Jack Dempsey

[JAB5239]

'Life is meant to be a challenge, because challenges are what make you grow.'

- Manny Pacquiao

[JAB5239]

'I've got a million dollar body and a ten cent brain.'

- Max Baer

[billeau2]

'I've got a million dollar body and a ten cent brain.'

- Max Baer

[JAB5239]

'I give in to nothing or nobody. Cut me or break my bones, it was all the same.'

- Rocky Graziano.

[JAB5239]

'I am grateful for all my victories, but I am especially grateful for my losses, because they only made me work harder.'

- Muhammad Ali

[JAB5239]

'If you want to survive in this world, you got to be tough. I was going to school in those days, and my mother always gave me something to eat, a sandwich, something like that, and these other kids, bigger than me, they'd take it away. I'd run home crying.

One day I was blubbering to my mother because I'd been ****** up by some kid because I put up a squawk that he was taking my sandwich right out of my mouth. My father came over to me, hit me with a vicious slap across the face and slapped an icepick in my hand.

He yelled at me, 'Here, you son of a b****, you don't run away from nobody no more. I don't give a goddamn how many there are! Hit 'em with it, hit 'em first, and hit 'em hard. You come home crying anymore, I'll beat the s*** outta you more than you ever get from any of them.'

He kept yelling and slapped me again, leaving my ear ringing half-dead, but that phrase, 'Hit 'em first, and hit 'em hard,' stayed with me. It was the only thing I ever got from my father, and later it always seemed to push the right triggers at the right time in my brain.

I never let go of my icepick after that. I carried it with me in a leather case hung on my belt. One day three kids ganged up on me. They were working me over pretty good when I remembered what my father said he'd do if I went home blubbering again, and I remembered the icepick.

I whipped it out and ripped into the three of them. I caught one of them across the cheek with it, ripped his skin, and when they saw the blood, you should have heard their screams and the looks on their faces. Talk about fear, they took off like they were being attacked by a monster from outer space.

It was the first time I can remember really having someone afraid of me. I can still remember that feeling of power flood through me.'

- Jake LaMotta

[Anthony342]

'If you want to survive in this world, you got to be tough. I was going to school in those days, and my mother always gave me something to eat, a sandwich, something like that, and these other kids, bigger than me, they'd take it away. I'd run home crying.

One day I was blubbering to my mother because I'd been ****** up by some kid because I put up a squawk that he was taking my sandwich right out of my mouth. My father came over to me, hit me with a vicious slap across the face and slapped an icepick in my hand.

He yelled at me, 'Here, you son of a b****, you don't run away from nobody no more. I don't give a goddamn how many there are! Hit 'em with it, hit 'em first, and hit 'em hard. You come home crying anymore, I'll beat the s*** outta you more than you ever get from any of them.'

He kept yelling and slapped me again, leaving my ear ringing half-dead, but that phrase, 'Hit 'em first, and hit 'em hard,' stayed with me. It was the only thing I ever got from my father, and later it always seemed to push the right triggers at the right time in my brain.

I never let go of my icepick after that. I carried it with me in a leather case hung on my belt. One day three kids ganged up on me. They were working me over pretty good when I remembered what my father said he'd do if I went home blubbering again, and I remembered the icepick.

I whipped it out and ripped into the three of them. I caught one of them across the cheek with it, ripped his skin, and when they saw the blood, you should have heard their screams and the looks on their faces. Talk about fear, they took off like they were being attacked by a monster from outer space.

It was the first time I can remember really having someone afraid of me. I can still remember that feeling of power flood through me.'

- Jake LaMotta

That's what must have made him such an abusive bastard as a husband.

[JAB5239]

That's what must have made him such an abusive bastard as a husband.

Probably. It was a different time back then. There were no safe spaces.

[billeau2]

'If you want to survive in this world, you got to be tough. I was going to school in those days, and my mother always gave me something to eat, a sandwich, something like that, and these other kids, bigger than me, they'd take it away. I'd run home crying.

One day I was blubbering to my mother because I'd been ****** up by some kid because I put up a squawk that he was taking my sandwich right out of my mouth. My father came over to me, hit me with a vicious slap across the face and slapped an icepick in my hand.

He yelled at me, 'Here, you son of a b****, you don't run away from nobody no more. I don't give a goddamn how many there are! Hit 'em with it, hit 'em first, and hit 'em hard. You come home crying anymore, I'll beat the s*** outta you more than you ever get from any of them.'

He kept yelling and slapped me again, leaving my ear ringing half-dead, but that phrase, 'Hit 'em first, and hit 'em hard,' stayed with me. It was the only thing I ever got from my father, and later it always seemed to push the right triggers at the right time in my brain.

I never let go of my icepick after that. I carried it with me in a leather case hung on my belt. One day three kids ganged up on me. They were working me over pretty good when I remembered what my father said he'd do if I went home blubbering again, and I remembered the icepick.

I whipped it out and ripped into the three of them. I caught one of them across the cheek with it, ripped his skin, and when they saw the blood, you should have heard their screams and the looks on their faces. Talk about fear, they took off like they were being attacked by a monster from outer space.

It was the first time I can remember really having someone afraid of me. I can still remember that feeling of power flood through me.'

- Jake LaMotta

LaMotta, in addition to being a great fighter was a bright guy. Never lost his marbles either. This situation he describes is an archetype that made NYC what it was. I was told similar things by my mother: "Hit them twice as hard, and run twice as fast." it is a right of passage to beat the bully up. I did it in 3rd grade and we became friends after. I think this attitude contributed to pugilistic greatness. Kids all had to mix it up... Nobody got a pass, not in public school at least!