Best 64 quotes of Lennox Lewis on MyQuotes

A boxer should quit at the top, as they say. But that’s complicated. There are plenty of people in boxing who make money out off you. And they tell you that you’ve still got it, that it’s still getting better.

Action is what separates the do-ers from the dreamers.

Adversity is something that makes reaching your goals so much more rewarding than if it didn't exist.

After about 25 fights you don't always have to keep going to the bathroom before the fight.

A great champion needs a background in amateur boxing, I’'m convinced of that. There you learn everything that you’ll need later as a pro. Someone who’s got more than 400 amateur fights behind him no longer gets nervous before going into the ring and doesn’t lose his nerve during a fight. You know all the boxing styles, you’re prepared for anything, you’ve got the pedigree that you need to be a successful pro.

At first I didn’t give a damn to go down in history. I wanted to win. But the more I won, the more I thought about leaving something behind. Yes, it's as important as hell to me. I want to leave something that people will remember me by. Of course, a lot of boxers want to do that. But it's not easy. Take Larry Holmes, he was the big man after Muhammad Ali, he wanted to emulate him, but for some reason the public didn’t take him like they did to Ali. I think people won’t fully understand what I contributed to the sport for years.

Boxing always was corrupt and always will be corrupt. The three world champion's belts really are absurd. One single association would make this business more reputable. Just as powerful as the promoters, is the media. The cable networks control the cash flow. You can’t ignore the influence the media and the promoters have on the sport. They have a financial objective - high ratings, selling pay-per-views and selling out arenas. Because of the system, the public may not be seeing the best the sport has to offer, but what sells.

Boxing and chess are similar. It’s about the choice of means. Sometimes I need a pawn, a bishop or a knight to defeat my opponent. It’s about finding the best way. A good boxer has to be variable. He doesn’t just need to know how to punch. He must also know how to protect himself, how to defend, how to avoid the opponent’s punches. Only a complete fighter can become champion.

Boxing involves the possibility of defeat, I accepted that very early on. After all, there are only two men and one of them wins.

Boxing isn't just about brute strength; it's about skill and outwitting your opponent.

Different fights bring out different things. I consider myself a seasoned professional. I have done things in the gym that have not come out yet. People would be amazed if they saw me train.

During the past twenty-three years, I have set a number of goals for myself and I’m proud to say that these goals have been achieved.

Fighters used to be afraid of the Russians, Cubans but then I'd figure them out and figure out how to beat them.

For me, there's never any bad blood - unless you do something to me.

How can you trust a man who can talk for 5 minutes and you cant understand a sentence of it!

I always ask myself why old heavyweights come back, but I plan to stay out of the ring.

I am definitely not scared of Mike Tyson. I am at the top of the food chain and he is looking to knock me off. Mike's an arrogant imbecile. He sounds like a cartoon character.

I am going to have one Klitschko for breakfast and one Klitschko for lunch.

I am just taking the top fights out there for me. People will get bored seeing me every day knock someone out.

I am proud to be in Los Angeles. I have a lot of fans that love me here. When you talk about the Meccas of boxing - Las Vegas, New York - now you have to talk about Los Angeles.

I am the heavyweight champion of the world, and the greatest heavyweight you have seen for a long while. With Tyson on the card, it is definitely an added bonus because Lewis-Tyson on the same card would be a great doubleheader. This is what the fans want to see.

I come across famous people all the time. It's the respect factor I appreciate. They respect me, they respect what I've achieved and the manner I've done it. It's street credibility. They know where I'm coming from, they know my reputation.

I could never stand big-mouthed types. I had problems with that at high school. I’ve still got the scars on my fists from the teeth of the guys I hit so that they’d finally shut up. I came from England to Canada, of course, and was often ridiculed because I had a strange accent. I was expelled from school and it was a long time before I could control myself. But the impulse remained: a punch in the mouth to get some peace and quiet.

I don't see where Tyson Fury has boxed anybody of Wladimir's [ Klitschko] calibre to be able to get in the ring with Wladimir and do well.

If I don't feel the same hunger as I once did then I definitely shouldn't box any more.

If the media didn't know I played chess, there'd be no angle on me at all.

If you’ve got physical weaknesses, you’ll lose. Nobody who gets cut easily can be a champion, however strong and talented he is. Boxers are trained to see and exploit their opponents’ weaknesses, they hit you on your wounds. Only the strongest survive in this sport.

I have always been English, ever since I emigrated from England and since the kids in Canada beat me up at the age of twelve for having an East London Cockney accent. I thank them for the cockney taunts because the beatings turned me on to boxing. But on a serious note Canada has been kind to me.

I have always said I am a five-dimensional fighter.

In boxing, if you think you will lose... you're already halfway there.

In boxing you create a strategy to beat each new opponent, it's just like chess.

I play chess about four hours a day in training camp. You have to decide what move to use, or what combination of moves. I think less when I box because the reaction time is a lot quicker, but some people call me the chess boxer because they say I think too much in the ring. I take my time and they don't see the action they want. Some boxers just go in there and just throw punches and hope to win.

I think Kirk Johnson is a more exciting fighter than Chris Byrd. A lot of people agree with me when it comes to that.

It's a very interesting fight [Klitchko vs Tyson Fury] because this is the first time [Wladimir] Klitschko is fighting someone as big as him and with longer arms. He will have to be a little bit more aggressive, otherwise the younger guy will have more speed and more energy and I think that may be the difference.

It's not rage that drives me, it's competition.

I was very aggressive as a child. At primary school in London my attitude was 'If you don't do what I say, I'll knowk you out', and I was eventually expelled for fighting.

[Kirk] Johnson throws some heavy punches and is a knockout fighter. This is what people want to see. They want to see a fight, they want to see punches and they want to see action.

Mike Tyson fit the American ideal of a boxer. A fighter who jumps out of his corner and hits out fiercely. That’s what he’'ll be remembered for. But good boxing doesn’t work like that. Tyson never won on points. It was clear that he’'d come a cropper some day.

Now I am ready to set new goals and start a new career for myself outside of the ring.

Patience is a part of boxing. After I had missed out on the Olympic gold medal in 1984, a lot of people tried to talk me into turning professional quickly to make money. They told me that the next Olympics in Seoul would be boycotted again, that I was wasting my life, blah blah. But I still had unfinished business. I wanted the gold medal, and I got it in ‘88. Only then was I ready to turn professional.

People are still crying out for Lennox Lewis. They still want to see Lennox Lewis. That motivated me. I am still young. I have a couple fights left in me.

People know I was the last true champion.

People want to see me back in the ring. I think it is more of a drag lying around on the beach.

Recently I donated money to the establishment of the Muhammad Ali Foundation in Louisville. I regard that as a kind of payback. He smoothed the way for us. He wasn’t just a great person who had conviction, but made the sport of boxing great. He was the first superstar, he made our stock rise. Without him we wouldn’t have earned so much. Americans from every walk of life have contributed to the foundation: Bill Clinton, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt. Unfortunately I was the only American athlete to make a donation. There’s not enough respect in our business.

Sometimes success needs interruption to regain focus and shake off complacency.

Sometimes the image of the intellectual boxer did for me more harm than good. If a boxer has a reputation as an intellectual, some people no longer respect him as a fighter. With me it was always ‘Lennox should react, not think’. But that’s nonsense. Only the guy who controls his opponent wins.

The danger of a closed mind is that it can also leave good things like love, compassion and reason on its outside.

The fact is that Mike Tyson bit through my trousers and took a significant piece of flesh out of my thigh.

The fight will last as long as I allow it to last.

The mission I set out on in the beginning - to become heavyweight champion of the world, undisputed, lineal champion - you could say that mission is complete.