Top 71 Quotes & Sayings by Roy Jones Jr.
Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American athlete Roy Jones Jr..
Last updated on September 17, 2024.
If I fought like I was looking for a place in history, it would ruin me as a person. I don't think history is worth selling my soul.
If I spent my career responding to critics, I'd never be where I'm at right now.
My dad sacrificed his relationship with me so I'd be stronger for it. But I could never do it to my kids - I like to have a happy relationship with them.
I always had a fetish for fighting big peoples. My dad put me in the ring with much bigger guys. In my first fight, I gave the guy a 14-pound advantage.
In my prime, I was the ruler. Simple as that. I understand there's a lot of great fighters who've followed me already since I was the champ - and I hope there's another who comes along does even better because want to see that - but I haven't seen anyone do what I did yet.
This fan thing doesn't really have any effect on my career goals. You know, I'll still be training fighters and haven't made any career plans yet. Just like I hadn't made any career plans before I fought Maccarinelli. I'll see how it goes, see how I feel. I always listen to my body.
Kids always used to come up and ask me if I ever fought Mike Tyson, and I used to tell them that we couldn't because we were in different weight classes.
You can't pretend there has ever been anyone come close to doing what I did. Nobody you could name could touch me, and I'm talking about nobody who's around now, nobody who was around in my prime, and nobody who was around any time you can mention outta your mouth.
With me, I come in the ring and start thinking right away. My thought process is just to put a guy down. I'm like a technician and learn to break it all down - from head to toe.
I've tried to stick with the same people from when my career started to today. The more people you add around you, the more distractions you have, and that's the last thing I need.
I had more energy at 25 and did more jiving around. People got to understand that when you're not so interested in something, you're not gonna do it to the best of your ability. I used to get excited working the crowd, but no more.
Once you put that muscle on, it's hard to go back down. Most guys, when they put that muscle on, they just stay big. To go back down while at the same time trying to maintain that punching power, it's very tough.
I don't know what tomorrow holds. None of us do. We got to wait and see what God has planned.
Boxing has been my life, and it is my life. I've enjoyed every moment of it.
The more irrational you make your opponent, the more control you have over him in the ring.
Mayweather was TBE - The Best Ever - at making money, but look at his highlights and look at mine. You can't pretend it's the same.
Every day, it was the same: school, homework, farm work, training. Getting hurt or dying might've been better than the life I was living.
I got real bored in '96. Wasn't nobody to fight. Nothing to look forward to. That's when I started playing basketball again. Had I not started playing basketball, my boxing career would have failed. But I went from a sport where nobody could touch me to another where I couldn't touch nobody.
Some of those guys show a lot of promise, especially Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder. Even the kid Joseph Parker, who Joshua is about to fight, shows a lot of promise. I'm looking forward to some really exciting fights in the heavyweight division to come.
I never wanted my kids to feel about me the way I felt about him.
I started talking about retiring in 1997. This is a brutal game, and 25 years of it ain't good for your health. After I get past Tarver on Saturday, give me Klitschko or Tyson. Otherwise, I'm outta here.
When me and Mike Tyson were around, we played king of the hill. Whoever comes to the hill, you get your behind whooped. We don't pick and choose. I fought guys when I had fractured wrists and ribs, bad backs, I didn't care. I was the king of the hill; Tyson was king of the hill. When we left, people were trying to get the 'most money fight.'
After my arrival in Russia, I saw that there is a large community of boxers. I also felt appreciated in Russia. Maybe even a lot more than I was valued and appreciated in my own country.
You know how many people would give up their life to get in one NBA game or NFL game or get one fight? Just to do something that has been a dream and they've aspired to do for their whole life - can you imagine what that means for a person?
I don't care about no boxing legacy. I don't care where they put me on the list of all-time greats - let them put me at the bottom.
I never stop. I'll never truly retire, because my mind is always on go.
One thing I learned from the '88 Olympics: It's not a question of if they can screw you over: it's a question of if they will. It's not the gold medal they took away from me. The medal doesn't mean anything. It's that they said I lost. That experience is well and alive in my mind.
British fans are the best, and we are seeing that. They love the sport of boxing. They follow, they travel, they love their fighters. They will go anywhere in the world to support you. They support better than any other country I've seen to this day.
They've made it a felon to drive from Florida to Louisiana with any fighting birds, so I've had to get rid of most of my chickens. I only got about a hundred left now, which I just keep for colour and breeding. I love those birds as much as anything.
Andre Ward got the chance to fight Sergey Kovalev twice. Triple G and Canelo are fighting again. People are getting paid to play king of the hill again.
I was so scared of my father. He'd pull up in his truck and start looking for something I'd done wrong. There was no escape, no excuse, no way out of nothing.
If God truly wanted me to stop, all He'd have to do is have one doctor at the Mayo Clinic find something wrong with my brain. Just one little CAT scan showing any sign of trauma or damage, and I'd be done.
I give my roosters the best of food. I give them the best of care. I give them everything they want before I ask them to sacrifice. Get a rooster comfortable, and he'll fight his ass off. That's all I ask of HBO. They just can't see that.
I'm pretty good at video games, but I'm the champ when it comes to pinball, and that's just because it's old-fashion like I am. I can't get enough of pinball.
I'm really glad to have become a Russian citizen. Russia's such a welcoming country, and many people in the world want to become her citizens.
I don't really give in to the critics because critics are always going to criticize, and what have they done? A person who has never done nothing can't really care nothing about doing something. So as far as the critics, I don't care what they think. I don't have time to give to critics.
Fishing keeps you alive, gives you time away - to enjoy God, the creations that He made. Because God made you.
Nobody in history has won all the titles I've won and the cruiserweight title. I'd be the only man in history. That's when you die and go to Heaven, and God can look at you and know you did everything with the gifts he gave you.
Boxing is not brutal, it's an art - God has gifted me with incredible handspeed as a tool to be used - what else am I supposed to do but fight? There ain't no hand-racing competitions.
I never was a person that wanted that life...I'm a leader not a follower. I don't care what they say, or what they're doing or what they're wearing. Go ahead, cos come Judgement Day, all of that won't matter. How many people did you help. How many people did you talk to. How many people did you try to encourage. How many people did you bring to God. That's what's gon' matter.
It was a tough situation. A fight that nobody expected to end so abruptly for him because he was really a great fighter. I felt sorry for him and I knew it could happen to anybody. And it could happen to any of us at any time. So when I was in a position to help him, I did what I could to help him.
There's one thing I remember about Muhammad Ali. He said "I don't like my condition, but if this is what the Good Lord has planned for me to deal with, I'm happy with that." You have to understand, that comes from my idol, one of the guys that got me started in boxing.
When I thought about it, I said "if you quit now, how you gonna explain to any other kid coming up that if something don't go their way, they're supposed to get up and go hard at it next time?" You can't if you quit.
He don't know what it is to lose, so I gotta teach him something that he doesn't know yet.
I feel ashamed tonight that we treated Lennox Lewis the way we did because he gave it all his effort but everytime Don King's involved, you can expect a draw to come from somewhere. Ask Pernell Whitaker about the Julio Cesar Chavez fight...I thought Evander Holyfield gave a very game effort, but you win some and you lose some...tonight I'm upset because Lennox Lewis did not lose and it was not a draw. It's as simple as that.
My first advice is to keep God first in everything you do. Second is stay in shape, stay ready and learn about the business because you don't want to be in a business you know nothing about, because they will take advantage of you, in this business.
I always feel like there’s no fighter that I can’t figure out.
There's no way a fighter should fight and put his life on the line, and a promoter makes more money than he makes.
I'm having a wonderful time in training. It's so funny because you go through ups and you go through downs. People have to realize that my career started on a down. I got ripped off a Gold Medal at the Olympics but it didn't stop me and it made me a better person.
Boxing’s an art, it’s a science, and you don’t go out to knock people out. If they happen to get knocked out, they happen to run into one of these bricks by mistake [looks at his fists], that’s their fault.
One thing you gotta know about Roy. The way I always saw myself, is I'm just like you. In the ring, I have a gift...That gift ain't on the basketball court. That gift ain't at home. You understand me? That gift is in the ring.
I think I might've turned 39, look like I turned 29, feel like I turned about 19.
Every fighter should really do that if they can, because if you build a fan base at home first, then once they receive you at home, it'll be easier to be received elsewhere.
Can't be touched, Can't be stopped, Can't be moved, Can't be rocked, Can't be shook.
I got some real rough dental work done not long ago, and my mouth's still numb right here [points to the left side of his chin]. So it kind of messes with my speech a little bit, so don't y'all think that I took too many cos I haven't.
Charity work shouldn't be bragged about. It's just something you're supposed to do...I do it because I feel like that's what God wanted me to do. It's as simple as that.
We're in Madison Square Garden, I can't let you beat me in Madison Square Garden, are you serious!?
I can get a title shot any time I want to. They know I can beat 110% of the champions out there right now. I just have to be motivated. Most of them are going to be trying to not give me a shot.
When I fought Montell Griffin, he quit on me, on the floor, I hit him with a soft punch and he laid down like I knocked him out, and it kinda upset me. I told him I don't care what it is, just give me the rematch. And then I really had to teach him the difference between acting like you've been knocked out, and getting hit for real.
I don't know if I'm the best Pound-For-Pound fighter ever. I know I'm close. I gotta be Top 5.
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