I don't want nothing comin' at me that I can't stop.

You got 3 things going against you: you're good, you're left-handed, and you're black

I had my Olympic gold medal cut up into eleven pieces. Gave all eleven of my kids a piece. It'll come together again when they put me down.

I got a burlap sack, put a brick in the middle, and filled it with rags, corncobs, some Spanish moss, and sand. I hung that sack off the branch of an oak tree. I'd wrap my hands with a necktie of my daddy's and punch at it. My mom gave me an hour a day. My brothers and sisters said, "Nah." I said, "You'll see."

There's one thing I don't ever think about: losing ... Instead, I think about how I'm going to win, and how I can do it the quickest way.

Boxing is the only sport you can get your brain shook, your money took and your name in the undertaker book.

I had a job to do in the ring, and the businessmen around me had a job to do outside the ring, I did my job by beating up most of the guys they put in front of me and staying in shape, but the people I trusted didn't do their jobs.