Lennox Lewis Quotes

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

I've got a new life now, a new future, there's a lot more to Lennox Lewis than just being a boxer.

You can consider me like fine wine. I just get better with age.

You can't spend 110 percent on something if you don't have that same hunger and drive. I have achieved all my goals - my mission is complete.

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

I've found that taking shortcuts will get you to the place you don't want to be much quicker than they get u to the place u want to be.

Whatever I do, I always want to get better.

There is just one rule about boxing: never bet on the white guy.

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 cannot fight everyone at once. I have to take one at a time.

I just want to complete my legacy.

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

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

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.

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

I've worked hard and accomplished what I've accomplished in the heavyweight scene.

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

I'm undisputed and there's no disputing that.

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.

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.

People know I was the last true champion.

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

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 Tyson fight was like the hardest I ever trained for a fight in my entire career.

[Wladimir] Klitschko has got the experience, so if Tyson [Fury] waits on him, Klitschko will out-box him. But if he uses his speed and reach it will be a great chance for him 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.

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

You can just fight one man at a time.

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

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.

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.

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

When I was fighting Tyrell Biggs, Tyson was telling me at ringside to hit him to the ribs. We always had a mutual respect for each other since we sparred those early times. We got that over with.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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