Popularity: 2
Vote:   | All of the sports have a safety net, but boxing is the only sport that has none. So when the fighter is through, he is through. While he was fighting his management was very excited for him, but now that he is done, that management team is moving on. |
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Vote: | Boxers are a tight-knit group of people. They have been beat up so bad that they are very leery of others. |
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Vote: | Boxing really was it for me. I started at the young age of 15. I liked it very much and went into the Golden Gloves at 16. There, I won the Middleweight Title. After every fight, I saw my picture on the back of the Daily News, one of the largest papers in New York. |
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Vote: | Boxing was not the sport that I thought is was due to all the politics. |
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Vote: | By the time you're 30 years old, you can be on a nowhere street, if you're not careful. |
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Vote: | Growing up training, I use to get up so early I would wave to the garbage men going by. So, I had this relationship with Blue Collar America and I really liked it. I felt that lots of those people looked forward to me winning. |
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Vote: | I also have my F.I.S.T. Foundation which stands for Fighters Institution for Support & Training. We help bring in retired prize fighters who are unemployed. They are usually in dire need of assistance. |
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Vote: | I am involved in minor league baseball. I go around the country speaking to troubled youths, trying to help them understand that whatever path they choose, they'll need to really pay attention to it. |
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Vote: | I am seeing all the guys, like Earnie Shavers, Tex Cobb, and Larry Holmes all the time. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | I am spending lots of time with the youth of America, like I told you earlier, and only wish when I was a kid, that I had someone to talk to. |
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Vote: | I grew up in a big Irish, Catholic family. My dad was a pretty rough guy. So one of my brothers left home when he was 15 and found his way to the gym. It gave me the opportunity to go and spend some time with him and work out in the gym. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | I have always been a people person. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | I have seen some women who can fight, but I don't think there is a place for me to see women in there getting punched around. |
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Vote: | I lost three times in my career. Losing to Holmes I could deal with, because I lost to a true champion. |
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Vote: | I was a left hooker, and I loved hooking. I also really liked to jab and mix it up right away. |
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Vote: | I was a small kid from Huntington, Long Island. I never imagined that anything like that would happen to me. |
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Vote: | I was disappointed for not succeeding in my attempt to win the title against Holmes. I had never lost a fight before that. |
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Vote: | If you look at my career, towards the end you will see I was fighting like once a year. I was not part of the Don King top heavyweights, so I was kind of kept out. His guys were getting three to four fights a year and I could only get one. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | In my fight with Larry Holmes it was a 15-round fight. That night in the ring it was 115 degrees under the lights. So, even if it was 12 rounds it was pretty hot out there, no matter what you did. |
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Vote: | In the fight with Spinks, he did not belong in the ring with me, in my estimation. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | In the Foreman fight I caught George in the first round and had him hurt. I thought I hurt him and wanted to take him out. |
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Vote: | Muhammad Ali was the kind of guy you either loved or hated, but you wanted to see him. I happen to really love him. He brought boxing to another level and always made you laugh. |
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Vote: | Once we get our web page up, everybody will be able to hook up to the F.I.S.T. Foundation online and they'll be able to communicate with each other. We are currently in the process of putting together a big charity function at Bob Guicione's mansion in Manhattan. He has donated his place for a charity event to support the foundation. |
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Vote: | One time in Detroit I went to see Larry Holmes fight Leon Spinks. We both were sitting with Howard Cosell and Larry knocked off Howard's wig. |
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Vote: | Roberto Duran was the kind of guy who was a true fighter and you hardly see guys like that anymore. |
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Vote: | That is the one thing about boxing that people have tried to do-compare fighters throughout history. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | The bad press came because they thought I should fight more. I couldn't get the fights because if I would sign to fight one of King's guys I would be signed to him. I chose not to do that. In hindsight, that might have been a mistake. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | The track stars from years ago couldn't really compete with the runners of today, because training is so different. |
Popularity: 2
Vote: | There have been so many great fight's that I have seen over the years. I really loved all the Ali Vs. Frazier fights because, here were two guys who just gave you their all in there. Evander Holyfield has given us some great fights and you can't go without mentioning Hearns Vs. Leonard and Duran Vs. Leonard. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | They say to other ex-fighters that Cooney is doing a good job, and this is how word spreads. You know that life is a series of going from one room to the next. For that period of time though, when you have to stand in the hallway, it's a scary place. |
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Vote: | We are in the learning stages of my organization, so we are taking it slow, to be able to help the fighters with the best options we have out there. |
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Vote: | When I got out of High School I worked at a gas station. There was a fellow I worked for named Harry, God rest his soul. I worked for him for a while and he told me that I reminded him of Gentleman Jim Corbett. |
Popularity: 1
Vote: | When I was fighting Kenny Norton I thought he was unbelievable. I had remembered how big he was in Mandingo. Finally I get into the ring with him and realize he really is not that big. I had built him up to be this big guy but in reality, he was not bigger than me. |
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Vote: | When that bell rang, I wanted to go out there and do my thing. |
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Vote: | You have a small period of time when you can perfect your career and become good at it. A lot of guys get distracted, which only hurts them. You must stay focused and work very hard at boxing. |
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Vote: | You know I have a very busy, hectic life. I am married and have two beautiful children. I still am in the fight game and spar about 30-40 rounds a week in New Jersey at a gym called Rocky Marciano's. |
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Vote: | You take that walk from the dressing room to the ring and that's when the real man comes out. Then you climb up those four stairs and into the ring. Then finally, you can't wait for the bell to ring. |