[Michael Spinks] didn’t belong in the same ring as me, but I wasn’t taking good care of myself because of drink and he beat me.

I’ve had a long, long road with lots of ups and downs. But that’s all behind me now.

About 99 percent of fighters end up broke. F.I.S.T. helps them turn the page and find new goals.

I had two managers who couldn’t stand each other. I had a promoter, Don King, who couldn’t get any fights, and I was fighting once a year. I knocked out Norton and then didn’t fight for 13 months. Then I fight the heavyweight champion of the world.

With the Klitschkos, though, unless someone comes around, they can stay where they are forever! The heavyweight division is lackluster, and it will be until someone comes along who can test them.

The bad press came because they thought I should fight more. I couldn’t get the fights because if I would sign to fight one of King’s guys I would be signed to him. I chose not to do that. In hindsight, that might have been a mistake.

I don’t want anybody guarding me. I want to be free; I want to be left alone… I would like to go out there and have no one know me, but at the same time, it would bother me, y’know.

I feel very blessed.

I spent a lot of time dwelling on yesterday, and it did me no good.

When that bell rang, I wanted to go out there and do my thing.

I am a fight fan. I think boxing had its problems and kind of fell away for a while, but it’s coming back strong .

You gotta appreciate every day!

Everybody handles pressure differently.

I was lucky. I held on to some of my money. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do after boxing. But I found what I wanted to do.

The road hasn’t always been paved for me. People identify with that. Everybody passes through hard times, and I think that’s part of my appeal – that I have, too.

I don’t care what you say about me anymore! I don’t care what you write about me anymore. I don’t care! This is my life. I can’t have anybody messing with my life. I just want to be Gerry Cooney, doing what I want to do. I want to be what I am. A fighter.

You take that walk from the dressing room to the ring and that’s when the real man comes out. Then you climb up those four stairs and into the ring. Then finally, you can’t wait for the bell to ring.

Like I say, boxing was on the floor, but it got back up.

When I hurt Norton, I got scared. I looked to the referee. But in the same sense, you’re a fighter: you gotta have the killer instinct.

Just because you don’t see someone doesn’t mean the love has changed.

Drug abuse is a very difficult disease.

I never fought because of my father. I started to box before he pushed me. It had nothing to do with him.

What hurt most were the people who came up to me and said they lost $1,000 on me. It just makes you mad.

I like the Klitschko boys, I think they’re in a class of their own. I like Manny Pacquiao. All the super-middleweights are great.

I’ve always wanted to fight. I love to fight.

I always had the hope that Holmes and I would fight again.

I always felt I was wounded. That I was no good, a piece of crap, and that I wouldn’t amount to anything, because that’s what my father always told me. I just felt like I didn’t belong anywhere.

My career got sidetracked after fighting Holmes.

You have a small period of time when you can perfect your career and become good at it. A lot of guys get distracted, which only hurts them. You must stay focused and work very hard at boxing.

Most fighters, when they’re finished, boxing turns its back on them.

After every fight, I knock myself down. I start from scratch again. I say, ‘I’m not as good as I thought.’ It makes you work harder. It makes you push harder. It’s more than money. It’s more than the title. It’s my pride, and it can be scary thinking about it. I could lose. It’s scary.

Sometimes you get so frustrated that things aren’t working out, you say, ‘Let me step away for a while.’ But the fire still burns.

They said if I’d fight a ranked contender, I’d get a title shot. I did that, and the next day they changed the rules.

I really don’t care who I fight.

Winning the Gloves made me believe I was somebody.

Some have made boxing a terrible thing to be around.

Long Island has a great boxing tradition.

Every Saturday and Sunday, when the other guys were out having a good time at the mall, I was at home working in the garden.

Maybe I’ll go to acting school. Acting is like boxing, you know.

Joe DeGuardia, I love that guy. He’s not a superstar promoter yet, but he will be. He was a fighter himself; he’s staying the course with these guys. He’s developing some good fighters out there. I really applaud him whenever I get a chance to.

You can have more than one career, but you only have one family.

I grew up in a big Irish, Catholic family. My dad was a pretty rough guy. So one of my brothers left home when he was 15 and found his way to the gym. It gave me the opportunity to go and spend some time with him and work out in the gym.

Today I have a great life. I have three kids and a beautiful wife. I play golf every day. I give to charities. I’m in a lucky position.

Growing up training, I use to get up so early I would wave to the garbage men going by. So, I had this relationship with Blue Collar America and I really liked it. I felt that lots of those people looked forward to me winning.

You go through pain. You feel uncomfortable, uncomfortable, uncomfortable until you change. I acquired a different outlook.

It’s great playing a sport where you don’t get hit in the head.

I believe in my abilities as a fighter.

I’m easygoing. There’s a place and time for everything. When that bell rings, I’m not nice and easy. I’m not meek and passive.

I am seeing all the guys, like Earnie Shavers, Tex Cobb, and Larry Holmes all the time.

I learned a lot from the Holmes fight. I learned about styles and the pressure. I’m more prepared now.

Some of the things written about me hurt, but there is nothing I can do about it.

I feel like a pro now. Before I fought Holmes, I felt like a rookie.

I know I can fight; that’s the only thing that matters to me.

Too many fighters stay in the game for too long. They stay because it’s awfully hard to walk away from the roar of the crowd. Really hard. You live for that and so you stay too long. And you might have a wife and kids to feed. So you keep fighting because you don’t know how to do anything else.

Sometimes it takes certain people longer to get over things than others.

Fighting is not something you can just turn off.

I had personal problems. I was spending 50% of my life on my family, 50% on boxing. Neither was getting anywhere. It was killing me. So I had to break away from fighting.

I’m a happy guy. I just want to see people laugh and smile.

Muhammad Ali was the kind of guy you either loved or hated, but you wanted to see him. I happen to really love him. He brought boxing to another level and always made you laugh.

Gil Clancy told me to move around for six or seven rounds, but when you’re a puncher and you catch someone, you got after them. And in that fight [with George Foreman in 1999] my timing was off and I got caught.

I’m one crazy, crazy guy.

In ’82, I was a little too young, I was a little inexperienced, and I was more concerned with going the distance in the fight than going out and taking Holmes out.

I see Mike Tyson as too strong for Spinks.

If you look at my career, towards the end you will see I was fighting like once a year. I was not part of the Don King top heavyweights, so I was kind of kept out. His guys were getting three to four fights a year and I could only get one.

I just like people. We have a good time together.

Too many guys don’t know what to do with their lives after boxing. I was lucky because I had two managers who didn’t trust each other, and so they were always making sure where all the money was, and because of that, so did I.

Roberto Duran was the kind of guy who was a true fighter and you hardly see guys like that anymore.

I retired when I was 30, with all my marbles and a few bucks. But a lot of guys leave boxing penniless with no skills. Men in their 30s and early 40s, old for boxing, young in life, but also old in the job market if you’re just getting started with no education. These guys need someone in their corner.

I lost three times in my career. Losing to Holmes I could deal with, because I lost to a true champion.

The Klitschko boys, they’re great fighters, but they’re just boring here in America.