boxing greatness Quotes

Joe Louis is the greatest heavyweight champion of all time. Rocky Marciano is second only to Louis. Where do I rate Ali? Somewhere below me. I beat him, and if I could beat him, no doubt Joe Louis and Rocky Marciano could have beaten him.

Some of our best fighters are not only Puerto Rican greats but all-time greats of the sport. Carlos Ortiz, Wilfredo Gomez, Wilfredo Benitez and Felix 'Tito' Trinidad and many others have made Puerto Rican boxing what it is today, and I am only an extension of their greatness.

Muhammad Ali was unquestionably one of the greatest boxers of the 20th century and a sincere advocate for his religious beliefs. In his life, he defeated the best professional boxers of his era, some of them more than once, which meant he was easily forgiven the excesses of his ringside braggadocio.

Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest, pound-for-pound, ever. He fought most of his career with just one loss, and that was to me. He had 131 fights with one loss.

Tyson is a lot better than I thought, a lot better. People can talk about Spinks all they want... Tyson is the true champion.

I don't benefit by minimizing his accomplishments Andre Ward.

You will all laugh and say I wouldn't have a chance, but I would knock Andre Ward out - or I will outbox him. He is a pound-for-pound great, but I can match him on the inside, and he has never fought anyone who could do that.

I want to be remembered as a guy who transcended boxing.

Klitschko was the reigning champion for a decade and regarded by many as one of the greatest heavyweights of all time. I'm never going to face another opponent with that legacy.

I will always wonder what might have been if I had faced Manny Pacquiao at my best. But there is no doubt in my mind that the Pacman will still go down as one of boxing's all-time greats.

That man was beautiful. Timing, speed, reflexes, rhythm, his body, everything was beautiful. And to me, still, I would say pound for pound... I'd say I'm the greatest heavyweight of all time, but pound for pound, I still say Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest of all time.

I am the biggest face of boxing right now. That's how I feel. I am the greatest of this era.

I am sick and tired of Cassius Clay going around and saying he is the greatest and what a tremendous boxer he has been.

Pacquiao earned the right to go out how he wants to go out. He had fought everybody there is to fight - when they was there to fight. He fought all the top names. Eight-division champion. He accomplished everything there is to do in the sport of boxing.

I love looking back at the older fights; they don't make them like they used to. Just watching Tommy Hearns, the technique in his punching, the brilliance and the combinations from the likes of Ray Leonard and 'Sugar' Ray Robinson.

Rocky Marciano had such guts and heart. He was something special.

There's never been a boxer better than Joe Louis. You'd take one shot from him and you were sure he'd have seven or eight more coming for you. Certainly Muhammad Ali was the greatest man ever to fight, but not the greatest boxer.

Someone once said there was a comparison between Sugar Ray Leonard and Sugar Ray Robinson. Believe me, there's no comparison. Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest.

My dream is to produce thousand Mary Koms.

Everybody knows that I am one of the greatest fighters of all time and I would beat all those guys.

That was always the difference between Muhammad Ali and the rest of us. He came, he saw, and if he didn't entirely conquer - he came as close as anybody we are likely to see in the lifetime of this doomed generation.

I'd love to be the Ali of women's boxing, to retire as the greatest.

I'm not going to say I was Britain's greatest ever world champion. I think Joe Calzaghe was the best - although I think I fought a lot better fighters.

I used to tease Joe Louis by reminding him that I was the greatest of all time. But Joe Louis was the greatest heavyweight fighter ever.

I think if you get the opportunity to try and become the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world and you turn your back on it, then you're a bit of a fraud.