Eight of The Most Legendary Boxing Movie Quotes for Real Life - Men's Folio
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Eight of The Most Legendary Boxing Movie Quotes for Real Life

  • By Bryan Goh

legendary boxing movie quotes
If you were the sort of lad who used to have blonde tips in the early 2000s and thought smoking and Hawaiian shirts were cool (the former, not really and the latter, still very relevant), we’re hazarding a guess that you were a big fan of Fight Club — the epic movie starring Brad Pitt as Tyler Durden, a soap salesman who eventually becomes a narcissistic prick once he becomes top dog at a fight club.

But, that’s not what we’re here to talk about today when it comes to fight movies. They usually don’t just include a lot of blood and broken teeth — they’re a treasure trove of legendary boxing movie quotes (the first rule…of…fight club...).

The kind you use to back yourself up in a real fight or to appear tougher in front of people. Yes, even if you’re the kind of person who gets a panic attack upon seeing a cockroach in the corner of your bathroom.


The Movie: Do we really need to talk about one of the most legendary boxing films? Ok fine, the 2001 film captures Muhammad Ali’s path to success — his capture of the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston to his reclaiming the title from George Foreman in the Rumble in the Jungle fight of 1974.
The Quote: “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. His hands can’t hit what his eyes can’t see.” — if this isn’t one of the most legendary boxing movie quotes you have ever heard, we don’t know what is. 
The Situation: 
You might have printed the poster out with said quote on it when you were young. Who knows, we don’t know what you do in your house.


The Movie: A fight against the patriarchy! A young Michelle Rodriguez! A killer soundtrack! The 2000 film revolved around Diana Guzman, a troubled teenager from Brooklyn who channel her aggression by training to become a boxer, despite the men in the movie being pretty sucky towards her.
The Quote: “When you are not training, someone else is training, to kick your ass!” — one of the most legendary boxing movie quotes that can be well, applied to any thing.
The Situation: Have you been through National Service? Yup, you might have heard something like this before from your warrant officer.


The Movie: Million Dollar Baby — the 2004 film about an underdog amateur boxer who is helped by an under-appreciated boxing trainer to achieve her dream of becoming a professional.
The Quote: “If there’s magic in boxing, it’s the magic of fighting battles beyond endurance, beyond cracked ribs, ruptured kidneys and detached retinas. It’s the magic of risking everything for a dream that nobody sees but you.”
The Situation: 
It sort of sounds like the “high school football quote” from Riverdale but just cooler. Use this to impress people because you’re a “hardcore boxing fan”.


The Movie: Who is Cus D’Amato? How about the dude who was the boxing manager and trainer who repped Mike Tyson, Floyd Patterson and José Torres, aka the boxers who got inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
The Quote: “The hero and the coward both feel the same thing. But the hero uses his fear, projects it onto his opponent, while the coward runs. It’s the same thing, fear, but it’s what you do with it that matters.”
The Situation: Is anybody else so inspired by it that they’d like to get the quote tattooed on their chest? No? Just us? Fine.

 


The Movie: The 1999 film stars Denzel Washington as Rubin “The Hurricane” Carter, a former middleweight boxer who was wrongly convicted for a triple murder. Spoiler alert: he gets freed.
The Quote: “The one thing I could do, and the only thing was box. I had tasted my own blood and I loved it.”
The Situation:
Do you have a thirst for your own blood? Then feel free to use one of the most legendary boxing movie quotes to intimidate people. We know we would be.


The Movie: The 1978 film stars Sylvester Stallone as a trucker who is trying to rebuild his life by winning the first-place prize money from a boxing competition. It’s actually a tear jerker.
The Quote: One of the most legendary boxing movie quotes and in fact, you might have said something along the lines when talking about your ex — “When I get to the table, that person, I don’t care who they are, they’re my mortal enemy. I hate them.”
The Situation: See above. You’re probably already used it.


The Movie: First of all, this 1980 biological sports drama film was directed by the Martin Scorsese. Second of all, this movie is pardon the pun, a real heavy hitter. It stars Robert De Niro as Jake LaMotta, a boxer who destroys his family and life because he has the making of a narcissistic sociopath — self-destructive and filled with anger, frequently sexually jealous, and with an animalistic appetite for violence.
The Quote: “If you win, you win. If you lose, you still win” — the wise words from Jake Lamotta’s equally psycho brother. 
The Situation:
One of the most legendary boxing movie quotes that’s applicable for any situation. We wish someone told it to Shangela in Season 3 of Rupaul’s Drag Race All Stars.


The Movie: So the Rocky in this film isn’t based on the real one but the dude is still pretty legit. The story revolves around Rocky Balboa’s relationship with his estranged son who has grown tired of living in the shadow of his father’s fame. Yes, it is a tearjerker too.
The Quote: “It ain’t about how hard you can hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.”
The Situation:
Pretty much applicable to anything in life — from your job, your hobbies, your preferred choice of sports and even if you’re a team of editors who are struggling to close their September issue.