There is so much hate among people, so much contempt inside people who'd like you to think they're moral, that they have to hire prizefighters to do their hating for them. And we do. We get into a ring and act out other people's hates.

A prizefighter who gets knocked out or is badly outclassed suffers in a way he will never forget.

It's not so bad for politicians and Pulitzer Prize poets and certain intellectuals in this country to sign petitions and speak out against the war in Vietnam, but when Cassius Clay did it he paid a heavy price for Freedom of Speech.

The fighter loses more than his pride in the fight; he loses part of his future. He's a step closer to the slum he came from.

It s easy to do anything in victory. It's in defeat that a man reveals himself.