People say that I’m a boxer. I actually started with kick boxing, and then I moved onto boxing, and then I moved onto grappling.

To kids, I’ve always been more than just some big tough black guy. I train to be tough – I box and do karate – but underneath all that toughness is a tender man.

To me, the extraordinary aspect of martial arts lies in its simplicity. The easy way is also the right way, and martial arts is nothing at all special; the closer to the true way of martial arts, the less wastage of expression there is.

Ever since I first came here in 1963 to fight Henry Cooper, I have loved the people of England.

If I said I would knock out Sonny Liston in 1 minute and 49 seconds of the first round, that would hurt the gate.

I’ve seen George Foreman shadow boxing, and the shadow won.

A good boxing competition gives one the sight of fine men in their prime, trained to the ounce, showing the highest skill, pluck and endurance in carrying out their attack and defence under strict rules of fair play and good temper.

I think I am the greatest fighter in any class. I know I can hold two, maybe even three belts.

Jiu Jitsu is a great workout both mentally and physically. You want to be strong for it and flexible for it.

I never wanted to be the next Bruce Lee. I just wanted to be the first Jackie Chan.

Ali’s got a left, Ali’s got a right – when he knocks you down, you’ll sleep for the night; and when you lie on the floor and the ref counts to ten, hope and pray that you never meet me again.

We learn martial arts as helping weakness. You never fight for people to get hurt. You’re always helping people.

When you are learning about a martial art, it is about respect.

I have been so great in boxing they had to create an image like Rocky, a white image on the screen, to counteract my image in the ring. America has to have its white images, no matter where it gets them. Jesus, Wonder Woman, Tarzan and Rocky.

I used to tease Joe Louis by reminding him that I was the greatest of all time. But Joe Louis was the greatest heavyweight fighter ever.

I’m already the face of the UFC, plus the face of boxing, WWE, and Hollywood.

I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.

I done wrestled with an alligator, I done tussled with a whale; handcuffed lightning, thrown thunder in jail; only last week, I murdered a rock, injured a stone, hospitalised a brick; I’m so mean I make medicine sick.

Posture for combat is so vital.

No boxer in the history of boxing has had Parkinson’s. There’s no injury in my brain that suggests that the illness came from boxing.

I have a deep, deep belief that if I tell you I’m going to crack you with a clean shot to the chin inside one minute of the first round and you will be unconscious, well, then that’s what will happen.

My unpredictability is what separates me. If you move in so many ways, your opponent is not focused on what he’s doing. He’s focusing in on what you’re doing, and it freezes him. When they freeze and you hit, they shatter like glass.

Boxing is a lot of white men watching two black men beat each other up.

When I won the Golden Gloves in 1960, that made me realize I had a chance. And when I won at the Olympics, that sealed it: I was the champ.

Boxing is limited fighting with a specific rule set. Fighting is true, where you can do anything.

My trainer don’t tell me nothing between rounds. I don’t allow him to. I fight the fight. All I want to know is did I win the round. It’s too late for advice.

Chinese combatants, men and women, inheritors of a millennial culture, are people of uncommon intelligence and an invincible spirit of struggle.

The thing about Jiu Jitsu is it is also not for everybody. It can be very humiliating and humbling. If you have a hard time dealing with the fact that someone smaller than you may be able to tap you out, it is going to be difficult.

Jiu Jitsu is probably the No. 1 activity that I could recommend to someone to improve their lives overall.

If they let people go fight jiu-jitsu tournaments, they can’t stop me going to fight a boxing fight.

I am the astronaut of boxing. Joe Louis and Dempsey were just jet pilots. I’m in a world of my own.

I will fight in many weight divisions.

This guy Clubber Lang, I’ve been him all my life. He’s mean and hungry just like me.

I sometimes just don’t like to see the Ultimate Fighting. I just find it, as a martial artist, I just find it too violent.

I love wushu a lot and I would love to see it included in future Olympic Games.

I never got into training to be an All-Ireland boxing champ or to win a belt. At the start, I just got into it to learn how to defend myself when I got into situations.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

I want to make a good, solid kung fu movie.

I’ve learned new footwork patterns that are very unusual. I’ve learned how to find a lower centre of gravity, and I’ve found more angles to throw shots.

I want to be an expert in different fighting styles, new training methods, new ways of thinking.

I was a huge Mike Tyson fan growing up; his fights were always on in my house.

‚Rocky‘ and ‚Rocky III‘ were the best.

We are like boxers, one never knows how much longer one has.

I’m in the game of spinning plates. I’m spinning a boxing plate. I’m spinning a Tae Kwon Do plate. I’m spinning a Jujitsu plate. I’m spinning a freestyle wrestling plate. I’m spinning a karate plate. If I was to put all them down and have one boxing plate spinning, it would be like a load off my shoulders.

I calculate that I took 20,000 punches, but I earned millions and kept a lot of it. I may talk slow, but my mind is OK.

People think hard sparring will get you sharp. And you do get sharp in the gym. But anytime I’ve trained that way, I’ve actually been a little bit flatter in the fight. And the knockout shot hasn’t come. It’s almost because my training has been too hard.

Who wants to leave the door open to being dominated physically by another human being? Jiu Jitsu gives you the ability to not be dominated by that person, and to me, that’s real peace of mind. I don’t have to worry about that when I’m walking around in the world.

I’m not the greatest; I’m the double greatest. Not only do I knock ‚em out, I pick the round.

The goal of jiu-jitsu in self-defense isn’t to take someone down to the ground – the goal in jiu-jitsu for self-defense is actually to be able to defend yourself on the ground, get up, and get away from an attacker. That’s what the goal is.

Joe Frazier got hit more than me – and he doesn’t have Parkinson’s.

I had a good time boxing. I enjoyed it – and I may come back.

I always bring out the best in men I fight, but Joe Frazier, I’ll tell the world right now, brings out the best in me. I’m gonna tell ya, that’s one helluva man, and God bless him.

Sonny Liston is nothing. The man can’t talk. The man can’t fight. The man needs talking lessons. The man needs boxing lessons. And since he’s gonna fight me, he needs falling lessons.

I’m going to change the way martial arts is viewed. I’m going to change the game. I’m going to change the way people approach fighting.

People don’t realize what they had till it’s gone. Like President Kennedy, there was no one like him, the Beatles, and my man Elvis Presley. I was the Elvis of boxing.

Jackie Chan is a myth.

I have the greatest job in the world. I get paid loads of cash for beating the crap out of people. And I’m very good at it.

If you learn a martial art, you learn to be dangerous, but simultaneously, you learn to control it.

Never put your money against Cassius Clay, for you will never have a lucky day.

You think the world was shocked when Nixon resigned? Wait till I whup George Foreman’s behind.