Top 85 Quotes & Sayings by Lennox Lewis

Whatever I do, I always want to get better.

After you win all these belts, you cannot fight all these mandatory guys.

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

So, I gave my belts out to others to give them a chance.

The fight will last as long as I allow it to last, and then I will knock him out.

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

My main goal was to win all the belts, and I have done that.

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

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

When you look back in history and see other fighters coming back, it's never really been good for them.

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

You can just fight one man at a time.

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

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.

During the past 23 years, I have set a number of goals for myself and I'm proud to say that these goals have been achieved.

I wanted to prove I was the best fighter in the world.

When you go into the other guy's backyard you cannot hope to win on points.

People know I was the last true champion.

I just want to complete my legacy.

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

I don't have anything else to prove.

If the money's right, I'm happy to bust up the other side of his face... No problem.

I have been in there with all of them and there is nothing left for me to prove.

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

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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.

There were different heroes with different images. There was Mike Tyson, the animal, there was Evander Holyfield, the devout, the priest. And there was me, the thinker, the intellectual boxer. So there was something for every fan, if you like. The public could always identify with one of us.

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

You?'ve got to understand that everything has its time. I had wonderful years as a boxer, I achieved everything. I don?t miss anything.

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.

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

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

The media can make boxers, controls who makes it big and who doesn?t. They can build up fighters or knock them down.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

As a boxer I took the liberty of using not only my fists, but also my head.

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

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.

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.