Quotes from Gerry Cooney

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 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.

By the time you're 30 years old, you can be on a nowhere street, if you're not careful.

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

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.

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.

I have a great life. I'm the happiest guy in the world.

I believe in myself. I want to be a fighter. I want to be heavyweight champion of the world.

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.

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.

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 want to get me one of those titles.

My father never once told me he loved me. I told him I loved him only one time - that was when he was sick. It was hard, the way he showed his love. I didn't understand what he was trying to teach me. Now I know, but it came too late for him to see it. After he was gone, I realized he was trying to strengthen my mind to make me better.

Am I complicated? Nah, I'm interesting. I just like having a good time.

I was a small kid from Huntington, Long Island. I never imagined that anything like that would happen to me.

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.

I'm a real person. I have real feelings. I have real thoughts. It's a quality people like about me. They can reach out and touch me. I wouldn't give it up for anything.

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.

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.

My career got sidetracked after fighting Holmes.

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.

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've just had some bad luck. I've had every injury known to man. I understand how people think, 'How can this be happening all the time to Gerry Cooney?' But it did.

Long Island has a great boxing tradition.