Quotes

[on his major victory over Muhammad Ali in 1971] He said if I whipped him that night he would get on his knees, crawl across the ring and say 'You are the greatest''. But he didn't do that. I think he was trying to get to the hospital.

[on the origin of his famously destructive left hook] When I was a boy, I used to pull a big cross saw with my dad. He'd use his right hand, so I'd have to use my left.

Ali always said I would be nothing without him. But what would he have been without me?

[on acquiring his nickname, 'Smokin' Joe' from his trainer] He used to say in the dressing-room, before sending me out to fight, "Go out there, goddammit, and make smoke come from those gloves."

The way I fight, it's not me beatin' the man. I make the man whip himself.