Boxing Legends Quotes

Jack Johnson was the first black heavyweight champion, so I took part of his name. I admired Rocky Marciano, so I took part of his name.

I have always wanted to be European champion, because it is a fantastic title and so many great boxers have held the belt over the years.

I'm telling you, Amir Khan gives Floyd Mayweather problems.

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.

I never said I was a Tyson, Bowe or Ali. I said I'm Shannon Briggs, the latest, not the 'greatest.'

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.

Frank Sinatra told Floyd Paterson how he should whoop me. Frank Sinatra.

I think the WWE is a great place for professional athletes. Floyd Mayweather did it. Mike Tyson has done it. Even Donald Trump has appeared in the ring.

I'm pretty excited: to be inducted into the Hall of Fame is a massive achievement... and to be inducted with Oscar de la Hoya and Felix Trinidad, two great fighters, is a massive honour for me and my family.

Joe Louis was a good Heavyweight, good boxer but he was kind of in the same boat as Marciano, weighing about 190 to 200 lbs.

I laugh when Floyd Mayweather says that if he went back in time he would beat us all. I'll tell you this: if he was in the same era as Hagler and Hearns and Leonard and me, I don't think he would be such a big name. There is too much talk.

I didn't expect one day I become world champion in the United States. I'm very proud to be together with boxing legends. It's a dream to be in with Muhammad Ali.

Except for Ali, fighters had never been marketable.

Yeah, I thought I could be heavyweight champion of the world when I was working with Ali and Joe Frazier and Earnie Shavers and all those guys. Because they were older than me and I was doing my thing.

The most exciting fight I have called on HBO was the first meeting between Arturo Gatti and Micky Ward. When I stood up to do the post-fight on camera, my stomach muscles were tight and sore from the tension of watching them take their lives into their hands and trade shots.

If I look at the fighters that are coming through, fighters like Carl Froch for instance, do I worry about fighters like that? Course not, I could eat them for breakfast.

To be the first Puerto Rican to win a world title in four divisions would be an achievement. Gomez, Benitez, there have been a lot of good fighters from Puerto Rico before me. When I started boxing, Tito Trinidad was our big star.

I liked Roy Jones, Sugar Ray Leonard, Ali... those were the guys I was looking at growing up.

Mike Tyson is a sharp puncher. Earnie Shavers was a PUNISHING puncher. There was a difference between the two. Because when Shavers hit you, you feel it all the way through your body.

Although I think of myself as the greatest heavyweight, I do respect the legends of the past for what they did. But they are not my heroes.

Everyone still wants to see [Floyd] Mayweather and [Manny] Pacquaio fight. When the talks start though, it always seem like it is all about Mayweather, and I think the people hate that.

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.

George Foreman is easier and has the bigger name and have you noticed that Foreman never calls me out or ever mentions my name? He is afraid of me like most fighters are and most people want to forget about Larry Holmes, like he never ever existed.

In the 1930s, in boxing, to be the heavyweight champion of the world was really, really big, people wanted to see the toughest guys. But what I've figured out now, in the '50s, '60s, boxing started to become more entertainment than sport.