Larry holmes quotes

The guys today are just too strong and back then they would take many hard punches to land one.

I don't know if I have any regrets, I have had a pretty successful life. I have learned good, bad, and ugly.

Mike Tyson always had a big heart, but one of his problems is that he's short. And he's got kind of a personal attitude. But that don't make him a great fighter.

I came from a dirt farm, now I'm filthy rich.

Tyson is a lot better than I thought, a lot better. People can talk about Spinks all they want... Tyson is the true champion.

It wasn't about Larry Holmes, if I would have fought a brother I wouldn't have gotten the money I got. Give me 10 black guys and I make eight dollars. Give me Gerry Cooney and I make $10 million.

I make appearances, but I really want to spend more time fishing. That is what I really enjoy doing with my spare time.

Bob Arum and Don King can do their thing but if I fought for those guys and they put the money up like they are supposed to then I don't have a problem.

Set a goal and make a commitment to meet that goal. Do the best you can, but never forget your roots, never forget where you came from. After you have succeeded, look back and see if there are others that you might help to achieve what you have accomplished.

We put our life on the line to fight for them, put on a show and these guys take our money so whatever happens to Bob Arum, Don King or anyone else is fine with me.

Boxing is already stable, as far as the opportunity to fight, opportunity for fighters to step inside the ring and make some money - I think that's OK, that's fairly legit. I just think fighters need to be represented when it comes down to making sure the "i" is dotted and the "t" is crossed.

There is no quit in me.

I think the world is changing. And it's changing so fast that people have to change with it.

The media loves to take things like that [Rocky Marciano couldn't hold my jockstrap] out of context. There was no harm meant when I said that, but plenty of harm came from it.

I was probably the best that ever walked this earth. And I could take a punch. I could deliver a punch. I didn't have the hardest punch in the world but my punches were sharp and they were crisp. And if you took too many of them, you would be knocked out.

I think a lot of people like to gamble, and they don't want to go to the casino to gamble. Sometimes they want to do it in the privacy of their home. They can't concentrate the way they want to in a gambling casino.

I have a lot of friends and fans in Canada and as a matter of fact I met a fan from there that came down to my office. It was nice and we took pictures and had a nice talk.

The only thing I'd like to see is to give fighters an option to wear a small headguard, a one-ounce headguard. Some fighters might not want that option. But you know - you're training all the time, you're boxing all the time, and you've got a headguard on, you're using big gloves, and you're getting hit. And you observe that your face is better protected that way. Now they're doing it with ten-ounce gloves and no headguard. I think if they have a one-ounce headguard on to protect some of those brain cells in the head, it would be beneficial to the fighter.

[My] worst habit: Drinking too much Budweiser when I get angry.

Mike Tyson does a lot of things that shows he wants to win. He might hit you after the bell, he might hit you a little low, but he wants to win the fight. I think if he controls himself, he's okay.

Now I'm free of him and I'm light as a feather. There's no weight holding me down; I'm ready to spread my wings and fly.

Yeah, I thought I could be heavyweight champion of the world when I was working with Ali and Joe Frazier and Earnie Shavers and all those guys. Because they were older than me and I was doing my thing.

I'm tired. I am old and I have never quit pursuing my goals. I am heavily involved in real estate right now, but I am trying to get out of it altogether, I am just tired.

I cursed [Larry Merchant] out once, and I told him that he was a phony.

When you constantly hear people talking about going the distance, going the distance, you can't help but wonder about it. I learned a lesson: next time I will fight my fight without that doubt.

George Foreman is easier and has the bigger name and have you noticed that Foreman never calls me out or ever mentions my name? He is afraid of me like most fighters are and most people want to forget about Larry Holmes, like he never ever existed.

Fighters today are much bigger, stronger and quicker and not only that but referees, judges and doctors back then were very strict and if your head got busted up the fight would be stopped.

Let people live their lives, as long as they don't hurt anybody. As long as they don't destroy their own lives.

Don King was good to me through my years as champion, but I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him. He's a wheeler dealer and you've got to be careful. He's a great con artist.

Everyone still wants to see [Floyd] Mayweather and [Manny] Pacquaio fight. When the talks start though, it always seem like it is all about Mayweather, and I think the people hate that.

I achieved something once again, I think we all want to put a mark on life. I dream, and my dreams always come true. I dreamed I was the heavyweight champion of the world. I am the heavyweight champion of the world.

Everybody knows that I am one of the greatest fighters of all time and I would beat all those guys.

Leading up to the fight [Trevor Berbick] took every opportunity he could to badmouth Larry Holmes and I just blew up. After I beat him in the ring, he tried to get me going again, saying he deserved another fight, wasn't happening.

I have learned that promoters can love you, hate you, then love you again.

Kenny Norton hit me so hard that it still hurts. Now there was a case of two fighters who did not like each other.

Fighters DON'T know how to jab. You take Roy Jones, for instance. He paws his jab. He throws it out, it don't land. And then he'll hit you with a left hook, hit you with a right hand. But he doesn't really know the jab. A guy needs to learn the jab, know the jab, and use the jab. And these guys don't do it today.

I don't think Mike Tyson's a bad guy. I think the people, the media, makes him out to be a bad guy.

Whether I make two dollars or no dollars, it's better than losing. I've got enough people playing the games at the casino that I don't lose any money. So it's good for me, and it's fun.

If you don't follow Don King, you get stepped on.

My fans know the name Larry Holmes and that he always gave it his all.

Muhammad Ali could take a very good punch. He was slick, he could move, he could hit, make you miss, good hand speed and combinations and one of the greatest fighters of all time in my opinion.

The seventies and eighties are when the division was really good. The fights were very enjoyable and everyone knew when the next fight was. Nowadays, you don't even know who won a fight three days after it happens. We need heavyweights, the people want heavyweights.

I think Roy Jones is a great fighter, a great puncher. But you know, he doesn't use the jab. But he's got everything else going for him. The problem that hurts Roy Jones in the boxing business, in the celebrity business, is his attitude. Attitude hurts, because you say a lot of things that you probably don't really mean and you say them because you don't want to be put down. But you've got a lot of people who don't like what you say, and that hurts. And that's what Roy Jones has been hurt by. That's what I have been hurt by.

That guy [Floyd Mayweather] is throwing his money around like there is no tomorrow.

I won't say I won't fight again but I don't think anyone wants to fight me so I am finished and I will just continue with boxing exhibitions.

When the bell rings, your trainer can't help you.

Mike Tyson is a sharp puncher. Earnie Shavers was a PUNISHING puncher. There was a difference between the two. Because when Shavers hit you, you feel it all the way through your body.

I always enjoy myself fighting in Mississippi. I enjoy myself fighting anywhere.

With a record of 75 fights and 6 losses, some of the losses were very questionable including Brian Nielsen when we fought in Denmark. I knew I won but they didn't give me that fight.

My actions speak louder than my words.

I did a job, [Don King] took money, probably more than he should have. If I was supposed to get $10 million, I was lucky to get $6.5 million. It happens and you can't do much, you decide whether to take it or leave it. King was a promoter, and he was good at it.

I didn't fight this fight for the blacks, the whites or the Spanish, I fought th fight for the people. We're all God's children. I don't see color. I'm not a racist When I look at Gerry Cooney, I just see a man trying to take my head off.

I'm happy with my career but I could have been happier if I could have been treated like a champion should have been treated because management and fighters take advantage of fighters.

I don't owe Don King anything. I got things with my own sweat and blood. I don't know if I'll be associated with Don but I won't be a slave or puppet for him.

I don't think boxing needs to be regulated. I think boxing needs to have a complaint board. And I think the complaint board should be able to look into boxing situations - as far as if you're getting what you should be getting, whether you're being managed, not being managed, etc.

Don King ain't a bad guy. He cut my earnings, but I don't hold any hard feelings toward him.

All fighters are prostitutes and all promoters are pimps

Don King doesn't care about black or white. He just cares about green.

This is the lying thieving mother who cut me $500,000.

I still feel that I am in my prime right now but I think my best fights were in my thirties.

Earnie hit me harder than any other fighter, including Mike Tyson. He hit me and I was face down on the canvas hearing saxophonist Jimmy Tillis.

I'm not a guy who counts cards. I'm a guy that plays with feeling. Because I feel that if something is going to come up, it comes up; if it doesn't, it doesn't. And a lot of people get pissed at me because that's the way I play but that's the way I learned to play - with my feelings.

I never tried to be a mercenary or a killer but a hard working fighter.

I don't see anything happening [in heavyweight division] when I watch these fights, they are very boring. Not only that, but you never heard of any of the fighters.

When Don King's fighters lose their titles they come back fighting on the undercard for peanuts. King owns all the top heavyweights and we spar against each other but we get charged for it and that comes out of our purses.

You never heard of any of the fighters [in heavyweight division]. It is very hard to watch. It upsets me to turn on my television set and never be able to look forward to a good fight in that weight class.

You can't put those guys like Marciano or anyone else in with today's class of fighters.

I think gambling can be a good thing if you don't take it too seriously. Take it and have fun with it, and don't lose what you can't afford to lose.

Ali was a guy that had a lot of discipline. If you hung around him, you'd be able to get some of that discipline that he had. And I learned from that. He was a sweet man.

Joe Louis was a good Heavyweight, good boxer but he was kind of in the same boat as Marciano, weighing about 190 to 200 lbs.

I train myself. I don't have trainers who want hundreds of thousands of dollars to train me. I hire who I want to put the grease on my face, to rub my neck and rub my back, to take my mouthpiece out and rinse it off and put the mouthpiece back in. And then I go about my business. And if they want to say something, they can give me little reminders. All you need are reminders. You don't need 'big-time' trainers.

My dad used to tell me, 'Check the price, son.' Check the price, kids, check the price because there is a price to be paid for whatever you do in life, whether it is good or it is bad. Before you do something, ask yourself is it worth the price you have to pay?

Tex Cobb would call me every day after we fought, I got sick of talking to him. I liked him a lot as a fighter, and as a person, and feel that sometimes he was misunderstood.

I don't like Larry Merchant. He thinks he knows everything about a sport that he was never in. He walks around with papers and studies what he writes, he just pisses you off.

Don King is a hip exploiter, an intelligent flesh peddler

Mike Tyson would have been a good sparring partner for me and Muhammad Ali because Tyson was a fast fighter and he could punch and throw good combinations.

I think a trainer is very important at the beginning of a fighter's career. A fighter needs to know how to throw a left, throw a right, how to duck, how to do certain things. Over time, you don't really need a trainer. You've got to train yourself. You've got to motivate yourself. And I don't think anybody can put that in you.

People think that I reached the top overnight; well, it took me fourteen years. I was twenty-nine before I really made it. I've had my jaws and hands broken. One arm is out of place. I've paid my dues in this business.

It's hard being black. You ever been black? I was black once - when I was poor.

Oliver McCall was someone who I never really got to know too well, and he had some well-publicized problems.