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. – Gerry Cooney
I am involved in minor league baseball. I go around the country speaking to troubled youths, trying to help them understand that whatever path they choose, they’ll need to really pay attention to it. – Gerry Cooney
By the time you’re 30 years old, you can be on a nowhere street, if you’re not careful. – Gerry Cooney
I am seeing all the guys, like Earnie Shavers, Tex Cobb, and Larry Holmes all the time. – Gerry Cooney
It’s like I had two things pulling at me: you want to be a fighter, and you have problems. So I couldn’t be a fighter, and I wasn’t solving any problems. – Gerry Cooney
When I was 15, I decided to take up the sport seriously, so I went down to the Y.M.C.A. My first day there, this little Italian guy beat my brains out. I decided to quit. Then I realized I really wanted to be a fighter. I worked at it, went back, and that little Italian guy didn’t beat me up no more. – Gerry Cooney
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. – Gerry Cooney
Looking back, I couldn’t get enough fights because Don King owned most of the top 10 fighters, and he never gave me a fight. – Gerry Cooney
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. – Gerry Cooney
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. – Gerry Cooney
When somebody used to compliment me, I’d spend 10 minutes trying to talk them out of it. – Gerry Cooney
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. – Gerry Cooney
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. – Gerry Cooney
For every athlete, the roar of the crowd goes away, and we have to learn how to turn the page. – Gerry Cooney
I have this want-to-be-liked thing, but deep down, I had this rage. I was just – I was blinded. I wasn’t healthy enough to be able to learn more. I had one mode – to fight. – Gerry Cooney
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. – Gerry Cooney
All of the sports have a safety net, but boxing is the only sport that has none. So when the fighter is through, he is through. While he was fighting his management was very excited for him, but now that he is done, that management team is moving on. – Gerry Cooney