I fought Sugar Ray Robinson so many times, it's a wonder I don't have diabetes.
I hypnotized myself so in my subconscious, I believed I couldn't get hurt. And I don't mean 'believe' - I mean believe believe believe.
There was only one thing I wanted out of life. That was to be the champ.
I had such a crazy life. How I got away with it, I don't know.
The world knows me as the Raging Bull.
I've learned a lot about life besides how to take a punch. And I've taken quite a few in and out of the ring.
I been in jail twice. The first time was reform school: they got me for carrying burglar's tools, something like that. The morals charge was a frame-up.
I never went to church. The priests couldn't scare me with all that crap about hell, but somehow I knew, inside of me somehow, I knew that I'd pay for it.
When you're No. 1 contender for five years, and you know who's controlling things, you'll do something you're not proud of.
When you break bones, they heal up and come back even stronger.
I was a sick animal. I was jealous. I was vicious.
Besides being a slum kid with no great education in anything except how to fight and stay alive and steal, I also had this temper.
I always needed money when I was younger. I had different ways of getting it. A lot of the ways I don't like to talk about.
When I was a kid, I wanted to fight Joe Louis. But I think if I had seen Mike Tyson at that time, I would have said, 'Nah, I don't want to fight him.' He's deadly. He could have been one of the great heavyweight champions. But he goofed.
Sugar Ray Robinson was the greatest, pound-for-pound, ever. He fought most of his career with just one loss, and that was to me. He had 131 fights with one loss.
I used to psyche myself out. Only, back then, we didn't know the word 'psyche.'
You can't go into the ring and be a nice guy.
People get in auto accidents, they're paralyzed for life. I got hurt worse getting married.
I ask for personal appearance fees because I've earned them. I deserve them. My presence at events is what they need, so they ought to pay for it.
My nose was broken six times, my hands six times, a few fractured ribs. Fifty stitches over my eyes. But the only place I got hurt was out of the ring.
