Latest Lennox Lewis Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• The media can make boxers, controls who makes it big and who doesn’t. They can build up fighters or knock them down.

  Lennox Lewis

  Fighter

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• 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.

  Lennox Lewis

  Missing, Wonderful

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• 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.

  Lennox Lewis

  Sports, Powerful, Boxing

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• 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.

  Lennox Lewis

  People, Boxing, Get Better

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• 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.

  Lennox Lewis

  Sports, Strong, Cutting

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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

  Lennox Lewis

  Winning, Men, Boxing

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• 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.

  Lennox Lewis

  Sports, Athlete, Boxing

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• At first I didn’t give a damn to go down in history. I wanted to win. But the more I won, the more I thought about leaving something behind. Yes, it's as important as hell to me. I want to leave something that people will remember me by. Of course, a lot of boxers want to do that. But it's not easy. Take Larry Holmes, he was the big man after Muhammad Ali, he wanted to emulate him, but for some reason the public didn’t take him like they did to Ali. I think people won’t fully understand what I contributed to the sport for years.

  Lennox Lewis

  Sports, Men, Thinking

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• 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.

  Lennox Lewis

  People, Boxing, Gold

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• 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.

  Lennox Lewis

  Fighting, Successful, Boxing

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• 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.

  Lennox Lewis

  Boxing, Fighter, Fit

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• 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.

  Lennox Lewis

  School, Long, Guy

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• 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.

  Lennox Lewis

  Winning, Thinking, People

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• 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.

  Lennox Lewis

  Mean, Boxing, Choices

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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

  Lennox Lewis

  Liberty

  Source: www.spiegel.de

• 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.

  Lennox Lewis

  Hero, Animal, Intellectual

  Source: www.spiegel.de

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

  Lennox Lewis

  Wine, Get Better, Age

  Lennox Lewis during National Conference Call, www.boxinginsider.com. April 24, 2003.

• 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.

  Lennox Lewis

  Fighting, People, Done

  Lennox Lewis during National Conference Call, www.boxinginsider.com. April 24, 2003.

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

  Lennox Lewis

  Fighter, Said, Five

  Lennox Lewis during National Conference Call, www.boxinginsider.com. April 24, 2003.

• There are still a lot of Mike Tyson fans out there, and a lot of disbelievers in the first fight, and they want to see us fight again. I am the emperor. If he wants to fight, I am here. If he does not, I understand.

  Lennox Lewis

  Fighting, Want, Firsts

  Lennox Lewis during National Conference Call, www.boxinginsider.com. April 24, 2003.

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

  Lennox Lewis

  Fighting, People, Bored

  Lennox Lewis during National Conference Call, www.boxinginsider.com. April 24, 2003.

• I am proud to be in Los Angeles. I have a lot of fans that love me here. When you talk about the Meccas of boxing - Las Vegas, New York - now you have to talk about Los Angeles.

  Lennox Lewis

  New York, Vegas, Boxing

  Source: www.boxinginsider.com

• Vitali [Klitschko] does want to fight me, but his promoter wants to be bigger than him. This is another situation of politics in the sport.

  Lennox Lewis

  Sports, Fighting, Want

  Source: www.boxinginsider.com

• Every era that comes along has a superstar that emerges. Once we are out of the game, there will be a superstar who will emerge that everyone will notice.

  Lennox Lewis

  Games, Eras, Superstar

  Lennox Lewis during National Conference Call, www.boxinginsider.com. April 24, 2003.

• There is not too much left for me to do, but I am sure there are a couple of great fights out there for me. I have basically achieved my goals. There are a few fights the public wants to see, and that is really what is left for me.

  Lennox Lewis

  Couple, Fighting, Goal

  Lennox Lewis during National Conference Call, www.boxinginsider.com. April 24, 2003.