My own ambition in the ring had always been skillful boxing, speed and defense - on the order of Mike Gibbons.
Gene TunneyNormally, I could hit hard enough, as anyone who studied my fights might have known. But the impression was that I was essentially defensive, the very reverse of a killer, the prize fighter who read books, even Shakespeare.
Gene TunneyAs a West Side kid fooling around with boxing gloves, I had been, for some reason of temperament, more interested in dodging a blow than in striking one.
Gene Tunney