Boxing – the sweet science – and lyrical quotes go hand-in-hand. We’ve assembled some of the best boxing quotes and captions for boxing fans. Have a read-through, and let us know what you think.
Ten Best Boxing Quotes
1.) I hated every minute of training, but I said, ‘Don’t quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.’
Muhammad Ali
2.) To become a champion, fight one more round.
James Corbett
3.) We gon’ float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. AH! Rumble, young man rumble! AH!
Drew Bundini Brown (Ali’s trainer and hype man)
4.) The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses – behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.
Muhammad Ali
5.) In boxing, you create a strategy to beat each new opponent. It’s just like chess.
Lennox Lewis
6.) IBoxing is like jazz. The better it is, the less people appreciate it.
George Foreman
7.) Boxing is the ultimate challenge. There’s nothing that can compare to testing yourself the way you do every time you step in the ring.
Sugar Ray Leonard
8.) There’s a moment in fighting when the strength of muscle ain’t everything because the enemy has already given you enough energy to gain victory.
Toba Beta
9.) My punches are just as hard in Chicago as in New York.
Sonny Liston
10.) Don’t count the days. Make the days count.
Muhammad Ali
Good Boxing Quotes
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.
Muhammad Ali
It’s less about the physical training, in the end, than it is about the mental preparation: boxing is a chess game. You have to be skilled enough and have trained hard enough to know how many different ways you can counterattack in any situation at any moment.
Jimmy Smits
The possession of muscular strength and the courage to use it in contests with other men for physical supremacy does not necessarily imply a lack of appreciation for the finer and better things of life.
Jack Johnson
He can have heart, he can hit harder, and he can be stronger, but there’s no fighter smarter than me.
Floyd Mayweather Jr.
There are no pleasures in a fight, but some of my fights have been a pleasure to win.
Muhammad Ali
I can fight, but that’s the only thing I can do. When it comes to anything other than fighting or talking, I’m not very good.
Tyson Fury
Boxing is like chess. You encourage your opponent to make mistakes so you can capitalize on them. People think you get in the ring and see the red mist, but it’s not about aggression. Avoiding getting knocked out is tactical.
Nicola Adams
Life is like a boxing match; defeat is declared not when you fall but when you refuse to stand again.
Unknown
Short Boxing Quotes
Boxing definitely has a part to play in taking away unwanted aggression.
Joe Calzaghe
A boxer is always armed.
Mokokoma Mokhonoana
Once that bell rings, you are on your own. It’s just you and the other guy.
Joe Louis
Fighting is like dancing. Look at a great boxing match, and it is dancing.
David Lyons
In boxing, they say it’s the punch you don’t see coming that knocks you out.
Katherine Dunn
To see a man beaten not by a better opponent but by himself is a tragedy.
Cus D’Amato
Inspiring
All the time he’s boxing, he’s thinking. All the time he was thinking, I was hitting him.
Jack Dempsey
I’m not God, but I am something similar.
Roberto Duran
No Mas.
Roberto Duran
Never eat less than four hours before boxing. Then eat only lightly.
Gene Tunney
Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier!
Howard Cosell
A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.
Jack Dempsey
God only made one thing in this world that’s perfect – and that’s my boxing record.
Floyd Mayweather, Jr.
I fight for perfection.
Mike Tyson
Boxing is like jazz. The better it is, the fewer people appreciate it.
George Foreman
Earnie Shavers could punch you in the neck and break your ankle.
Randall “Tex” Cobb
You never lose until you actually give up.
Mike Tyson
I was painfully initiated into boxing because the guys I fought were a lot bigger than me.
Sugar Ray Leonard
I made a lot of mistakes out of the ring, but I never made any in it.
Jack Johnson
Boxing Quote Meme
Motivational Boxing Quotes
Never give up, which is the lesson I learned from boxing. As soon as you learn to never give up, you have to learn the power and wisdom of unconditional surrender and that one doesn’t cancel out the other; they just exist as contradictions. The wisdom of it comes as you get older.
Kris Kristofferson
When I was a young fellow, I was knocked down plenty. I wanted to stay down, but I couldn’t. I had to collect the two dollars for winning or go hungry. And I had to get up. I was one of those hungry fighters. You could have hit me on the chin with a sledgehammer for five dollars. When you haven’t eaten for two days, you’ll understand.
J.Dempsey
In order to be at the top and maintain your focus, you have to have something that motivates you. For me, it was what I perceived as a lack of respect from the boxing world as well as the media, which made me want to work so hard and be great.
“Marvellous” Marvin Hagler
I don’t fight for legacy. I don’t fight for none of that; I fight for that check. I’m in the check-cashing business.
Floyd Mayweather
It’s been like that forever. We got spoiled by Joe Louis, by Rocky Marciano. Muhammad ruined us for everybody. He was great outside [the ring]; he was great inside. We got so accustomed to it we thought we deserved it.
Angelo Dundee
Famous
People don’t realize what they had till it’s gone. Like President Kennedy, there was no one like him, the Beatles, and my man Elvis Presley. I was the Elvis of boxing.
Muhammad Ali
Even though I heard him say he doesn’t believe, cuz’ that’s why from watching Ali gave me a great deal of confidence and deep-down inner belief to believe there’s no man fighting that could beat me.
Mike Tyson
I made a lot of mistakes out of the ring, but I never made any in it.
Jack Johnson
He saved my life; he saved my career. I can’t thank him enough for the chance to fight him.
Ken Norton
Getting hit motivates me. It makes me punish the guy more. A boxer takes a punch, hits back with three punches.
Roberto “Hands of Stone” Duran
I don’t count the sit-ups. I only start counting when it starts hurting because they’re the only ones that count. That’s what makes you a champion.
Muhammad Ali
Rhythm is everything in boxing. Every move you make starts with your heart, and that’s in rhythm or you’re in trouble.
Sugar Ray Robinson
Notable
I fight for perfection.
Mike Tyson
No mas.
Roberto Duran
Once that bell rings, you’re on your own. It’s just you and the other guy.
Joe Louis
The time may have come to say goodbye to Muhammad Ali because, very honestly, I don’t think he can beat George Foreman.
Howard Cosell
The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero uses his fear and projects it onto his opponent while the coward runs. It’s the same thing, fear, but it’s what you do with it that matters.
Cus D’Amato
I could’ve been a contender. I could’ve been somebody instead of a bum, which is what I am.
Terry Malloy (acted by Marlin Brando) in the movie On The Waterfront
Funny Boxing Quotes
The three toughest fighters I ever fought were Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Sugar Ray Robinson. I fought Sugar so many times I’m surprised I’m not diabetic.
Jake LaMotta
To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there’s no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.
Jack Handy
Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.
Mike Tyson
Sure the fight was fixed. I fixed it with my right hand.
George Foreman
If I survived the Marines, I can survive Ali.
Chuck Wepner
Boxing Sayings
If you lose a big fight, it will worry you all of your life. It will plague you – until you get your revenge.
Muhammad Ali
That’s the most beautiful thing that I like about boxing: you can take a punch. The biggest thing about taking a punch is your ego reacts, and there’s no better spiritual lesson than trying to not pay attention to your ego’s reaction.
David O Russell
Boxing’s a poor man’s sport. We can’t afford to play golf or tennis. It is what it is. It’s kept so many kids off the street. It kept me off the street.
Sugar Ray Leonard
Boxing is the toughest and loneliest sport in the world. You’ve got all the fans, lots of hangers-on jumping up and shouting different words. But when you actually go in the ring, it’s a very lonely and scary place. It’s just you and the other guy.
Frank Bruno
It’s been like that forever. We got spoiled by Joe Louis, by Rocky Marciano. Muhammad ruined us for everybody. He was great outside [the ring]; he was great inside. We got so accustomed to it we thought we deserved it.
Angelo Dundee
To see a man beaten not by a better opponent but by himself is a tragedy.
Cus D’Amato
There are too many governing bodies. They’re all corrupt. I think they have replaced the old Mobsters with the kind of ‘corporate rule’ of boxing.
Larry Merchant
Tough Fights Quotations
The three toughest fighters I ever fought were Sugar Ray Robinson, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Sugar Ray Robinson. I fought Sugar so many times; I’m surprised I’m not diabetic.
Jake LaMotta
I liked that title. I didn’t want to lose it to anybody, but if I had to lose it, I’m glad I lost it to you. You’re a good fighter and gonna be a great champ.
Jersey Joe Walcott
It’s different when you become a professional because you also have to become a businessman, and that takes something away from it.
Sugar Ray Leonard
He went to the hospital with bleeding kidneys, and me; I went dancing with my wife.
George Chuvalo
Only in America.
Don King
Muhammad Ali Boxing Quotes
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.
Service to others is the rent your room here on earth.
It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, and waves pound the sand. I beat people up.
It’s a lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself.
It’s hard to be humble when you’re as great as I am.
Don’t count the days; make the days count.
The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses—behind the lines, in the gym and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.
You can be free. You can be black. Look at me! I’m the Heavyweight Champion! Can’t nobody stop me.
Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.
The fight is won or lost far away from witnesses—behind the lines, in the gym, and out there on the road, long before I dance under those lights.
It’s not bragging if I can back it up.
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.
It isn’t the mountains ahead to climb that wear you out; it’s the pebble in your shoe.
I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was.
Mike Tyson Quotations
Everyone has a play ’till they get punched in the mouth.
I love to hit people. I love to.
I’m going to gut you like a fish.
I feel like sometimes that I was not meant for this society.
I’ll go back and take what the people owe me.
I could feel his muscle tissues collapse under my force. It’s ludicrous these mortals even attempt to enter my realm.
As long as we persevere and endure, we can get anything we want.
George Foreman Boxing Quotes
Sure the fight was fixed. I fixed it with a right hand.
They’ll take everything, even your tears.
The question isn’t at what age I want to retire; it’s at what income.
My kid’s idea of a hard life is to live in a house with only one phone.
n boxing, I had a lot of fear. Fear was good. But, for the first time, in the bout with Muhammad Ali, I didn’t have any fear. I thought, ‘This is easy. This is what I’ve been waiting for.’ No fear at all. No nervousness. And I lost.
Many people fail not so much because of their mistakes; they fail because they are afraid to try.
The question isn’t at what age I want to retire; it’s at what income.
Being angry and resentful of someone is like letting them live rent-free in your head.
To be successful in life, you must get in the habit of turning negatives into positives.
Sonny Liston
A boxing match is like a cowboy movie. There’s got to be good guys, and there’s got to be bad guys. And that’s what people pay for – to see the bad guys get beat.
The only thing my old man ever gave me was a beating.
How would you like to find out how good my right is?
Newspapermen ask dumb questions. They look up at the sun and ask if it is shining.
My punches are just as hard in Chicago as in New York.
Jack Dempsey Boxing Quotes
A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.
Nobody owes anybody a living, but everybody is entitled to a chance.
All the time he’s boxing, he’s thinking. All the time he was thinking, I was hitting him.
The best defense is a good offense.
Tall men come down to my height when I hit ’em in the body.
I can’t sing, and I can’t dance, but I can lick any S.O.B. in the house.
Honey, I just forgot to duck.
Joe Louis
Nicknamed The Brown Bomber, Joe Louis was born in LaFayette, Alabama.
Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die.
If you gotta tell them who you are, you ain’t nobody.
It hurt to even bump into him.
Money can’t buy happiness, but it does quiet the nerves.
Every man got a right to his own mistakes. Ain’t no man that ain’t made any.
The one-time cotton picker was now the heavyweight champion of the world.
He can run, but he can’t hide.
Randall Cobb Boxing Quotes
Randall “Tex” Cobb had a heck of a chin and was a good interview.
Earnie Shavers could punch you in the neck and break your ankle.
I was once knocked out by a Mexican bantamweight – six of my pals were swinging him around by his heels at the time.
If you screw things up in tennis, it’s 15-love. If you screw up in boxing, it’s your a#$.
I don’t think his hands could take the abuse.
All I want to do is hit someone in the mouth. It’s a whole lot easier than working for a living. Don’t make anything noble out of what I do.
When I got up, I stuck to my plan – stumbling forward and getting hit in the face.
You run for forty-five minutes, you train for an hour and a half, and the rest of the time, you hang out and talk tough.
Rocky Balboa Quotes
It ain’t about how hard you can hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.
Every champion was once a contender who refused to give up.
Remember, the mind is your best muscle. Big arms can move rocks, but big words can move mountains.
Going that one more round when you don’t think you can that’s what makes all the difference in your life.
Let me tell you something you already know. The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows.
It’s your right to listen to your gut; it ain’t nobody’s right to say no after you earned the right to be where you want to be and do what you want to do!
Time takes everybody out. Time is undefeated.
I am not the richest, smartest, or most talented person in the world, but I succeed because I keep going, and going, and going!
If I can change and you can change, everybody can change.
Adrian: Rocky, why do you fight?
Rocky Balboa: Because I can’t sing and dance.
Inspirational Boxing Quotes
The loss just made me hungry; it made me want to go out and win another title.
Thomas (Tommy) Hearns
Rhythm is everything in boxing. Every move you make starts with your heart, and that’s in rhythm, or you’re in trouble. Your rhythm should set the pace of the fight. If it does, then you penetrate your opponent’s rhythm. You make him fight your fight, and that’s what boxing is all about.
Sugar Ray Robinson
The hero and the coward both feel the same thing, but the hero uses his fear and projects it onto his opponent while the coward runs. It’s the same thing, fear, but it’s what you do with it that matters.
Cus D’Amato
Boxing is the only sport you can get your brain shook, your money took, and your name in the undertaker book.
Joe Frazier
There is so much to learn from boxing. You can never have learned everything; anybody who says they know it all is lying. You can’t – there is always something new to learn.
Nicola Adams
Motivating
If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, then they can sure make something out of you.
Muhammad Ali
Mental strength is really important because you either win or lose in your mind. And I’m not solely talking about sporting matches, boxing events – anything you do. You do it first with your mental strength. And you can actually train and develop it, and I am responsible for what I’m saying because I have experience with that.
Wladimir Klitschko
Boxing’s not that straightforward. You can practice and practice, but the real experience will always be different. Lots of things are like that, actually.
Franny Billingsley
To be a champ, you have to believe in yourself when no one else will.
Sugar Ray Robinson
If it doesn’t challenge you, it doesn’t change you. The temptation for greatness is the biggest drug in the world.
Mike Tyson
Boxing Captions
- If you work hard in training, the fight is easy.
- I wanted to post a joke about boxing… but I forgot the punchline.
- A little progress every day adds up to big results.
- Heels off. Gloves on.
- You beat me to the punch.
- Come out swinging.
- Don’t let the weekend become your weak end.
- Keep your guard up.
- You don’t have to be extreme, just consistent.
- Heavy Hitter.
- Blow-by-blow.
- Fighting above your weight.
- Ready to take a dive?
- Duke it out.
- Time to throw hands.
- Throw in the towel.
- Here’s my corner.
- Glutton for punishment.
- That’s a low blow.
- Slugfest!
Boxing Instagram Posts
- It’s about the heart.
- On the ropes.
- The gloves are off.
- The ol’ one-two.
- Saved by the bell.
- The Rumble in the Jungle.
- Mean right cross.
- Roll with the punches.
- Rumble, Young Man, Rumble.
- You big Palooka.
- Fight of the Year.
- Throw jabs, not shade.
- The only bad workout is the one that did not happen.
- The sweet science.
- Throw in the towel.
- Sore today, strong tomorrow.
- I’m nicer after boxing.
- Float like a butterfly.
- Win, Rocky, Win!
- I coulda been a contender.
By Phil Herman
Phil writes about sports, history, and boxing.
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