Larry Holmes Quotes

Bob taught me extraordinary discipline and love.

My idol was Terry Bradshaw, but my role model was my father because I saw how much he worked and how much he focused on his trade. I was brought up the right way.

I think if you look at Andre then and now, you look at two different models. Of course it's personal preference, I think Andre now is a great role model for the kids. He has started training differently than he was before, and so on and so on.

I grew up watching Oprah on television. So, to say I didn't learn a lot from her just wouldn't be true.

My teachers made me what I am today. I remember they used to instill confidence in me and stress on remaining focused.

Boxing gave me the discipline and took me away from the streets and away from the corners. It changed my life, you know. Boxing dragging me away from all the bad potential I had.

My discipline in myself has got me where I am. I try to emphasise that to young players.

Joe Wright was almost like a teacher, to be firm with me, that really stuck with me. And that helped me as I've gotten older.

Boxing kept me out of the streets, by giving me something to do. And it gave me a father figure in the coach that was there for me. I just reiterated what my mother was trying to teach me about focusing and getting my life together.

Playing with Tom Watson, I grew up a little bit. Even if he didn't say something to you, even if he didn't give you advice, you have grown up just watching him. It was great.

I look at tennis as a bit of a platform to hopefully touch lives and encourage people.

My father made me who I am. He gave me a basketball and told me to play with the ball, sleep with the ball, dream with the ball. Just don't take it to school. I used it as a pillow, and it never gave me a stiff neck.

The more you practice and study, the better you are... so I still practice and study all the time.

A black belt is what you prove to be, but also what it means in your heart.

Surround yourself with good people. Whether they're the best or not, people are capable of learning if they've got good hearts and they're good souls.

Kids are always infatuated with the action in martial arts films. Let me tell you, there is nothing better for kids than the arts. That is what kept me straight and decent. I always had a place to go. That was the dojo. I always had something to look forward to doing.

I have a discipline that has served me very well in my career and in my personal life... and that's gotten stronger as I've gotten older. I've always felt if I don't just have a natural knack for it, I will just out-discipline the competition if I have to - work harder than anybody else.

Business is about being the best that you can be, and there are always glowing examples of people that we can all learn from.

If it weren't for the mentorship and guidance from people like my mother, James Brown and others, I wouldn't have been able to make something of my life.

The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.

When I was a young player, I would look at players and think, he does this well, and try and pick up good points from them, or he conducts himself well, I'll pick up on that.

Kids will come into my boxing gym with no discipline, and then you teach them how to focus and love what they're doing, which then travels outside into their home and work life.

Whether we like it or not, we are high-profile athletes. We're role models. Kids come up to me all the time to talk and it makes me remember when I was a kid and I got to meet Jerry Rice and how much that meant to me. And how we've got to set a good example.

I want to be a role model.

When you don't have someone to model yourself after, you're going to make mistakes.