Gerry Cooney Quotes

Boxing's all I know. At 40, what else am I going to do?

I feel bad for guys in other sports that never work a job. Think about it, most MMA fighters have had to do something for money whereas a guy who was an athlete in college sport then went straight to the pros, he's never had a skill outside of sport.

In 1996, after 29 years as an artist for Marvel Comics, I got fired - 56 years old, two children still in college, and no job.

In architecture, you arrive so late. I look at doctors, lawyers I know, and they're all buying boats and bailing out at 62. My career is just getting started.

There was a point where there was a vision that we'll get to a certain age, and then we'll retire and be happy. Now that's like, that's being compromised every day. So I think we have to start living happy now and stop waiting for the forty years because by then you'll be so sick, you wouldn't enjoy it anyway.

Most of the people I meet who are on unemployment are people who have had jobs for 25 years, lost them; they've been knocking on doors every week.

We want to make sure our athletes have a future once their athletics careers are over.

Retirement at sixty-five is ridiculous. When I was sixty-five I still had pimples.

I have to think about the possible ramifications of an early retirement.

When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes.

I hope that I'll be hot for a long time so I can make a lot of money, I can retire early, and just travel. Hopefully that will happen.

I want parents to teach that academic intelligence is essential, but so is financial intelligence.

For 30 years I've been responsible for managing client money, and it's been a joy, but at some point I need to move on. Thirty years is enough.

The teacher's life should have three periods, study until twenty-five, investigation until forty, profession until sixty, at which age I would have him retired on a double allowance.

I look forward to the end of all this money-making part of the career, to be truthful.

I've made a good amount of money. I'm very happy that I can now support my theatre company and support friends and family, and I'm ready to maybe go back to school and change careers.

I came out of my professional athlete career with a 450 credit score, no money in the bank to show for it, but I had an Ivy League degree. So I put that Dartmouth degree to good use and got a job on Wall Street. I hated it but used the time to make connections and become financially literate.

Poor Darrell Hammond. What's he going to do when I leave office?

It has had a tremendous impact on my life, more than on the life of most Prize winners, because I was in an unusual situation. I was unemployed at the time. I was in good health, but I had reached the age of 66 and beginning to get social security, but I didn't have much of that. I had many years of unemployment before me.

Many people will have nothing at the end of their working lives.

Too many guys don't know what to do with their lives after boxing. I was lucky because I had two managers who didn't trust each other, and so they were always making sure where all the money was, and because of that, so did I.

About 99 percent of fighters end up broke. F.I.S.T. helps them turn the page and find new goals.

I'm not complaining. I've made a very good living from boxing, better than any living I possibly could have done. Having said that, you don't live the rest of your life off the money you make in boxing. You still have to create positive forms of income.

I'm very lucky because less than one percent of boxers get out of the game financially secure.

I want to retire from boxing by the time I am 25 or 26 and be a legend by that age.