American Gangster 2007 - Hard Times aka The Streetfighter 1975 - On the Waterfront 1953 - Mills Lane - Robert Fitzsimmons - David Olusoga TV - Parkinson & Conteh & Cook TV - Million Dollar Baby 2004 - F X Toole - Jack Handey - Howard Cosell - Emo Philips - James J Corbett - Gerry Cooney - Wladimir Klitschko - Alan Minter - Idi Amin - Joyce Carol Oates - Andy Murray - Randall Tex Cobb - Larry Merchant - Norman Mailer - Boxing at the Movies: Kings of the Ring TV - Champion 1949 - Rocky 1976 - Emanuel Steward - Cinderella Man 2005 - Al Bernstein - Ringside: Top Ten Heavyweights TV - Bruce The Mouse Strauss - Bruce Trampler - Harry Mullan - Patrick Myler - Pierce Egan - Cus d’Amato - Peter Markie - Ronald K Fried - Thomas Hauser - Saoul Mamby - Mark Kriegel - Abe Hollandersky - Ken Jones - John Harding - Ralph Wiley - Pete Heller - Sam Toperoff - George Plimpton - Stephen Brunt - Michael Taub - John Burrowes - Southpaw 2015 - The Ring 1953 - Danny Leigh - Ray Donovan TV - Dispatches TV - Day of the Fight 1951 - My Name is Lenny 2017 - TwentyFourSeven 1997 - After the Last Round 2009 - Daily Telegraph - Assault in the Ring 2008 - Frontline: Don King Unauthorised TV - 10 Shocking Unsolved Mysteries in Boxing - 10 Most Disgraceful Cheats in Boxing - The Darkest Secret in Boxing History!? TV - Daily Mail - Kings of the Ring TV - The Rise of Eastern European Boxing TV - Naked Sport: Welcome to the Sewer TV - The Kelly Pavlic Story 2007 - The Good Son: The Life of Ray Boom Boom Mancini 2013 - Losers: The Miscast Champion 2019 - Counterpunch 2017 - Katie 2018 - Fightworld 2018 - Fox TV - One Night: Joshua v Ruiz TV - Fight: The Jim Murray Story TV - Panorama: Boxing and the Mob TV - Floyd Patterson - The Kings TV - The Notorious Kray Twins TV - Right to Fight TV - Untold: Jake Paul: The Problem Child 2023 - Play for Today TV - Body & Soul 1947 - Four Kings 2024 -
It ain’t boxing, kid. It’s politics. American Gangster 2007 ***** starring Denzel Washington & Russell Crowe & Chiwetel Ejiofor & Cuba Gooding jr & Josh Brolin & Ted Levine & Armand Assante & Yul Vazqez & Ruby Dee et al, director Ridley Scott, Crowe to associate
I knock people down. Hard Times aka The Streetfighter 1975 ***** starring Charles Bronson & James Coburn & Jill Ireland & Strother Martin & Margaret Blye & Robert Tessier & Nick Dimitri et al, director Walter Hill, him to her
He sure was something. ibid. Coburn
It wasn’t him, Charlie. It was you ... This ain’t your night. My night – I coulda taken Wilson apart. So what happens? He gets the title shot outdoors in the ballpark and what did I get? A one-way ticket to Palooka-ville. You was my brother, Charlie. You shoulda looked out for me a little bit. You shoulda taken care of me ... I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody instead of a bum. On the Waterfront 1953 starring Marlon Brando & Eva Marie Saint & Lee J Cobb & Karl Malden & Rod Steiger & Pat Hennnig & James Westerfield et al, director Elia Kazan, Brando
Let’s get ready to rumble! Michael Buffer
Let’s get it on. Mills Lane
Some fighters have talent but no character. Mills Lane
It’s not the best seat in the house, but it’s pretty darned good. Mills Lane
The bigger they are, the harder they fall. Robert Fitzsimmons, prior to fight, cited Brooklyn Daily Eagle 11th August 1990
A man who went on to take Georgian Britain by storm. One of the former slaves who managed to get out of America was a teenage boxer from Staten Island called Bill Richmond … And then in his early 40s he made the most bizarre decision: he gave it all up [high social status] to become a bare-knuckle boxer in London … He was challenged to a fight: it was the spark that set him on course to become a boxing star, and one of Georgian Britain’s most famous celebrities. The world of prize-fighting, of bare-knuckle boxing was special to the British in a way that no other sport was, because the fighter was said to be the embodiment of the national characteristics of bravery and manliness and resilience, all the things the British liked to believe made them who they were. Now, these were the same days when Britain was the biggest slave-trading nation power in world, and yet by entering into this world, [Repton club], into this sport, Bill Richmond, a black guy, a former slave, was able to become not just a star but a national hero. David Olusoga, Black and British: A Forgotten History II: Freedom ***** BBC 2016
Michael Parkinson to John Conteh: Is it true you don’t have sex before a fight?
Peter Cook as fellow guest: No, it’s during the fight. The Michael Parkinson Show
People love violence. They’ll slow down at a car wreck to check for bodies. Million Dollar Baby 2004 starring Hilary Swank & Clint Eastwood & Morgan Freeman & Jay Baruchel & Mike Colter & Lucia Rijker & Brian F O'Byrne & Anthony Machie & Margo Martindale & Riki Lindhome et al, director Clint Eastwood
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. ibid. Eddie
To make a fighter you gotta strip them down to bare wood: you can’t just tell ’em to forget everything you know if you gotta make ’em forget even their bones ... make ’em so tired they only listen to you, only hear your voice, only do what you say and nothing else ... show ’em how to keep their balance and take it away from the other guy ... how to generate momentum off their right toe and how to flex your knees when you fire a jab ... how to fight backing up so that the other guy doesn't want to come after you. Then you gotta show ’em all over again. Over and over and over ... till they think they’re born that way. ibid.
Boxing is the magic of men in combat, the magic of will, and skill, and pain, and the risking of everything so you can respect yourself for the rest of your life. F X Toole, introduction to Million Dollar Baby
To me boxing is like a ballet, except there’s no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other. Jack Handey, Deep Thoughts
Unlike any other sport the objective in boxing is chillingly simple: one man purposely endeavours to inflict bodily harm on another man. Howard Cosell, I Never Played the Game
39,277. A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing. (Boxing & Chess & Computer) Emo Philips
Fight one more round. When your feet are so tired that you have to shuffle back to the center of the ring, fight one more round. When your arms are so tired that you can hardly lift your hands to come on guard, fight one more round. When your nose is bleeding and your eyes are black and you are so tired that you wish that your opponent would crack you one on the jaw and put you to sleep, fight one more round remembering that the man who always fights one more round is never whipped. James J Corbett
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. Gerry Cooney
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
Sure, there have been injuries and deaths in boxing – but none of them serious. Alan Minter
I want to be remembered as a great athlete. As a boxing champion. Idi Amin
Boxing has become America's tragic theatre. Joyce Carol Oates
Everything in tennis is so neat and nice but boxing has sport down to its essence; it is very pure and I like that. Andy Murray
Reality show? You can’t find anything better than boxing because of the trials and errors, the ups and downs, the struggle when you get knocked down to get back up. Use it symbolically and interchangeably for life. Don King
Earnie Shavers could punch you in the neck and break your ankle. Randall Tex Cobb
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
It is not uncommon for fighters’ camps to be gloomy. In heavy training, fighters live in dimensions of boredom others do not begin to contemplate. Fighters are supposed to. The boredom creates an impatience with one’s life, and a violence to improve it. Boredom creates a detestation for losing. Norman Mailer, The Fight