They say actually every time I enter the ring, in a way, I`m going to the war. They say to me daily, you are a prized fighter, what`s the difference? And I like to say to those critics of the press and the others that there is one hell of a lot of difference in fighting in a ring and going to war in Vietnam.

No one knows what to say in the loser's locker room.

Not to commit faults counts for more than to do good.

Floyd Paterson and other fighters, they just don't take part.They make a million dollars, they get a Rolls Royce and a nice home and a white wife and think, 'well, I made it'.

I've been on planes flying through thunder storms when the pilot says, 'ladies and gentlemen, we tried to fly around it but we can't so it's going to be rough'.And when a pilot says it's going to be bad, it's going to be rough. And you say to youself, boy, I could have got the train.

Others may know pleasure, but pleasure is not happiness. It has no more importance than a shadow following a man.

Howard Cosell was gonna be a boxer when he was a kid only they couldn't find a mouthpiece big enough.