80 Boxing Quotes to Motivate You Towards Victory

The sport of boxing has created world-renowned athletes, coaches, and commentators with vibrant personalities.

To see their perspectives on boxing, check out the boxing quotes below. 

Are you a boxing fan? 

The International Olympic Committee states that the “earliest evidence of boxing dates back to Egypt around 3000 BC.” 

In its early years, various forms of boxing surfaced throughout ancient India, Greece, and Rome.

It wasn’t until the 1700s that boxing came to the United States from England and began growing in popularity.

Over the years, successful boxers such as Muhammed Ali, Mike Tyson, and Floyd Mayweather Jr. have captivated audiences with their strength, wit, and speed in the ring. 

We hope you enjoy the insightful quotes below — they sure do pack a punch! 

If you love this quote collection, read out our most popular quote article about short inspirational quotes for daily motivation. 

If you need more inspirational quotes, check out our motivational quotes category page.

Boxing quotes about the sport

1. “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

2. “Boxing is a hurt game if you can’t be at your best, can’t be 100 percent mentally and physically switched on to performing, to win titles, defend titles, defend yourself in the correct fashion, then I don’t think you should fight.” – Carl Froch

3. “Boxing brings out my aggressive instinct, not necessarily a killer instinct.” – Sugar Ray Leonard

4. “To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there’s no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.” – Jack Handey

5. “Boxing is like jazz. The better it is, the less people appreciate it.” – George Foreman

6. “Boxing is like chess. You encourage your opponent to make mistakes so you can capitalize on it. 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

7. “Boxing is not always about standing in the middle going toe to toe. It’s about poise and grace under extreme pressure.” – Peter Berg

8. “Boxing is a lonely sport.” – Andre Ward

9. “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

10. “If there’s magic in boxing, it’s the magic of fighting battles beyond endurance, beyond cracked ribs, ruptured kidneys and detached retinas. It’s the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you.” – Paul Haggis

11. “Boxing is the most beautiful thing after women.” – Canelo Alvarez

12. “Boxing is the only sport you can get your brain shook, your money took and your name in the undertaker book.” – Joe Frazier

13. “Boxing, for me, it’s the beginning of all sports. I’m willing to bet that the first sport was a man against another man in a fight, so I think that’s something innate in all of us.” – Omar Epps

14. “Boxing is all about how cool and controlled and clear your mind is. Violence only gets in the way of you winning a fight. It’s a sport that’s more about the strategy than anything. You lose or you win in your head.” – Edgar Ramirez

15. “Boxing is real easy. Life is much harder.” – Floyd Mayweather, Jr. 

Boxing quotes about being in the ring

16. “I beat Larry Holmes and George Foreman. I whupped Mike Tyson twice. I had my ear chewed off and spat on the ground in front of me. I’ve seen everything it is possible to see in boxing. I know this business better than anyone. So I live and die by my own decisions.” – Evander Holyfield

17. “I started boxing for exercise, and on the very first day, the trainer got in the ring with me and said, ‘Whoever controls the breathing in the ring controls the fight.’ I immediately passed out.” – Garry Shandling

18. “All that is worth seeing in good boxing can best be witnessed in a contest with soft gloves. Every value is called out: quickness, force, precision, foresight, readiness, pluck, and endurance. With these, the rowdy and ‘rough’ are not satisfied.” – John Boyle O’Reilly

19. “In boxing, some fighters let the occasion get to them and they let their opponent get to them. With me, it’s just another day at the office.” – Kell Brook

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of The Office quotes from the iconic hit show.

20. “One of the hardest things you’ll ever do is to box – to get into the ring and to face off with somebody whose whole goal is to knock you out, to hurt you, and to be able to fight back.” – Cara Castronuova

21. “In boxing, you never know who you’re going to face in ring.” – Manny Pacquiao

22. “My goal is not getting hit and to knock the other guy out. Some people might complain because they want to see boxers beat up on each other, but you cannot last long in professional boxing if you take a lot of punches.” – Wladimir Klitschko

23. “If you want street fight, let’s go. If you want boxing, I show you. But people think I am, like, gangster. No. Ring is different world. Very dangerous.” – Gennady Golovkin

24. “A sight game is that I am hurt, but I aim to make you believe I am not even hurt, and with this confidence appearing on my face, I don’t panic, otherwise your opponent will know that you are hurt. That’s the whole art game in boxing.” – Evander Holyfield

More Boxing quotes about being in the ring

25. “A good boxing competition gives one the sight of fine men in their prime, trained to the ounce, showing the highest skill, pluck and endurance in carrying out their attack and defense under strict rules of fair play and good temper.” – Robert Baden-Powell

26. “A boxing ring looks different from the inside, particularly when it’s shared with another man who is intent upon rendering you unconscious. There’s no place to hide. Once a fighter climbs the stairs, he’s roped in, unable to leave until his night’s work is done.” – Thomas Hauser

27. “Sometimes, there’s a fine line between bravery and utter stupidity. The day I decided to climb into a boxing ring for a professional fight was probably on the side of stupidity.” – Andrew Flintoff

28. “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

29. “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

30. “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.” – Sonny Liston

31. “The sky is the limit for me, but in boxing you have to take it one fight at a time.” – Adrien Broner

32. “All of the sports have a safety net, but boxing is the only sport that has none.” – Gerry Cooney

33. “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. On the downside, you meet a lot of really bad people in boxing, at all stages of your career.” – Sugar Ray Leonard

34. “I’m scared every time I go into the ring, but it’s how you handle it. What you have to do is plant your feet, bite down on your mouthpiece and say, ‘Let’s go.’ ” – Mike Tyson

You might also like these tough & inspirational Cus D’Amato quotes.

Boxing quotes about winning and losing

35. “Sometimes emotions can win fights. Sometimes letting your feelings out in a fight can win you the fight. When it means the world to you, it’s not just a sports contest – a boxing match for money or belts.” – Tyson Fury

36. “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.” – Marvin Hagler

37. “A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.” – Jack Dempsey

38. “To become a champion, fight one more round.” – James Corbett

39. “To be a champ you have to believe in yourself when no one else will.” – Sugar Ray Robinson

40. “A champion shows who he is by what he does when he’s tested. When a person gets up and says ‘I can still do it’, he’s a champion.” – Evander Holyfield

41. “Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them – a desire, a dream, a vision.” – Muhammad Ali

42. “The loss just made me hungry; it made me want to go out and win another title.” – Thomas Hearns

43. “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

If you’re enjoying these quotes, make sure to read our collection of Muhammad Ali quotes on life, love and being a champion.

44. “If you screw things up in tennis, it’s 15-love. If you screw up in boxing, it’s your ass.” – Randall Cobb

Boxing quotes about training

45. “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

46. “Training’s training; boxing’s boxing. Everyone does the same kind of stuff: they spar, they train, they do whatever they do to prepare for fights.” – Tyson Fury

47. “I’m training and preparing because nothing is predictable in boxing. I’m preparing for those rounds, and if it happens that I get a shot, whatever advantage I have, I will be ready for 12 rounds.” – Canelo Alvarez 

48. “Boxing gyms are more than training facilities. They are sanctuaries in bad neighborhoods for troubled kids and shrines to the traditions of the sport. The gym is home. For many, it’s the safest place they know.” – Katherine Dunn

49. “Boxing is changing and training methods are slowly being dragged into the 21st century.” – Barry McGuigan

50. “I have always adhered to two principles. The first one is to train hard and get in the best possible physical condition. The second is to forget all about the other fellow until you face him in the ring and the bell sounds for the fight.” – Rocky Marciano

More uplifting boxing quotes

51. “My arms are too short to box with God.” ― Johnny Cash

52. “If they can make penicillin out of moldy bread, then they can sure make something out of you.” ― Muhammad Ali

53. “The same hand that can write a beautiful poem, can knock you out with one punch—that’s Poetic Justice.” ― “Irish” Wayne Kelly

54. “Never fight ugly people—they have nothing to Lose.” ― “Irish” Wayne Kelly

55. “In life and in a boxing ring, the defeat is not declared when you fall down. It is declared only when you refuse to get up.” ― Manoj Arora

56. “Being emotionally undercut by some friends, can feel like a physical uppercut to the chin, when deep down you just weren’t ready for it, again.” ― Curtis Tyrone Jones

57. “Take the time to train your mind.” ― Floyd Mayweather

58. “Sometimes there’s no way to get the upper hand without taking a few uppercuts.” ― Curtis Tyrone Jones

59. “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

60. “Fighters find solace in the boxing ring.” ― Abhysheq Shukla

Thought-provoking and gripping boxing quotes

61. “He can have heart, he can hit harder and he can be stronger, but there’s no fighter smarter than me.” — Floyd Mayweather Jr.

62. “I want your heart. I want to eat his children. Praise be to Allah!” — Mike Tyson

63. “My punches are just as hard in Chicago as in New York.” — Sonny Liston

Check out these Chicago quotes before you go!

64. “Sure the fight was fixed. I fixed it with a right hand.” — George Foreman

65. “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

66. “You can be free. You can be black. Look at me! I’m the Heavyweight Champion! Can’t nobody stop me.” — Muhammad Ali

67. “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

68. “It’s like someone jammed an electric light bulb in your face, and busted it. I thought half my head was blowed off…When he knocked me down I could have stayed there for three weeks.” — James J Braddock

69. “I don’t think his hands could take the abuse.” — Randall “Tex” Cobbs

70. “The question isn’t at what age I want to retire, it’s at what income.” — George Foreman

Boxing Quotes To Make Fighters Champions

71. “Bruce Lee was an artist and, like him, I try to go beyond the fundamentals of my sport. I want the public to see a knockout in the making.” — Sugar Ray Leonard

72. “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

73. “Boxing is only done by people who do not respect human life and human dignity!” ― Mehmet Murat ildan

74. “We all have boxing gloves within trying to conquer our spirits in the ring we call our minds, Souls never get knocked out.” ― Goitsemang Mvula

75. “Boxing creates fighters. This is not a place for show offs or inflated influencers.” ― Abhysheq Shukla

76. “Everyone loves a good boxing story, especially God.” ― Nick Cave

77. “A boxer is always armed.” ― Mokokoma Mokhonoana

78. “Like a boxer in a title fight, you have to walk in that ring alone.” ― Billy Joel

79. “We all fight for money, some for power, but most of all for love. But me, I fight to become a champion.” ― Jonathan Anthony Burkett

80. “To be a boxer is to be within yourself, inside your thoughts and feelings.” ― Brian D’Ambrosio

What’s your strategy in life? 

Boxing is a test of your mental and physical strength.

You must master your strategy to overcome your opponent and be reigned the champion. 

Remember that implementing the strategy of a champion begins far before you “step into the ring.”

Prepare your mind and body for greatness by implementing healthy habits such as getting enough sleep, exercising, and eating a balanced diet.

Study your opponent and learn their weaknesses so you can eclipse them at the right moment.

Be a lifetime learner.

When you’re consistently working on your craft, you’ll be ready for anything that comes your way. 

If you love boxing, you will also love these Howard Cosell quotes.

Which of these boxing quotes and sayings is your favorite?

We would love to hear your thoughts.