A boy comes to me with a spark of interest, I feed the spark and it becomes a flame. I feed the flame and it becomes a fire. I feed the fire and it becomes a roaring blaze.
– Cus D’Amato
I believe a man is a professional when he can do what needs to be done no matter how he feels within. An amateur is an amateur in his attitude emotionally. A professional is an professional in the way he thinks and feels and in his ability to execute under the most trying conditions.
– Cus D’Amato
Boxing is a sport of self-control. You must understand fear so you can manipulate it. Fear is like fire. You can make it work for you: it can warm you in the winter, cook your food when you’re hungry, give you light when you are in the dark, and produce energy. Let it go out of control and it can hurt you, even kill you… Fear is a friend of exceptional people.
– Cus D’Amato
A man who’s thinking or worried about getting hit is not gonna have a good sense of anticipation. He will in fact get hit.
– Cus D’Amato
It is the mark of a great fighter when he has character plus skill. Because a fighter with character and skill will often rise and beat a better fighter because of this. Character is that quality upon which you can depend under pressure and other conditions. Character makes the fighter predictable. Character helps him win.
– Cus D’Amato
I should add that at no time does fear disappear. It’s just as bad in the hundredth fight as it was in the first, except by the time he reaches a hundred fights or long before that he’s
developed enough discipline where he can learn to live with it, which is the object, to learn to live with it.
– Cus D’Amato
Boxing is a contest of character and ingenuity. The boxer with more will, determination, desire, and intelligence is always the one who comes out the victor.
– Cus D’Amato
No matter what anyone says, no matter the excuse or explanation, whatever a person does in the end is what he intended to do all along.
– Cus D’Amato
If he weren’t here I probably wouldn’t be alive today. The fact that he is here and doing what he’s doing, and doing it as well as he’s doing it, and improving as he has, gives me the motivation and interest to stay alive. ‘Cause I believe that a person dies when he no longer wants to live. But I have a reason with Mike here. And he gives me the motivation. I will stay alive, and I will watch him become a success because I will not leave until that happens.
– Cus D’Amato, on Mike Tyson
Every fighter that ever lived had fear. A boy comes to me and tells me that he’s not afraid, if I believed him I’d say he’s a liar or there’s something wrong with him. I’d send him to a doctor to find out what the hell’s the matter with him, because this is not a normal reaction. The fighter that’s gone into the ring and hasn’t experienced fear is either a liar or a psychopath.
– Cus D’Amato
Boxing is entertainment, so to be successful a fighter must not only win but he must win in an exciting manner. He must throw punches with bad intentions.
– Cus D’Amato
Remember, it’s always good to throw the punch where you could hit him and he can’t hit you. That’s what the science of boxing is all about.
– Cus D’Amato
When two men step into the ring, one and only one deserves to win. When you step into the ring, you gotta know you deserve to win. You gotta know destiny owes you victory, ’cause you trained harder than your opponent. You sparred harder. You ran farther.
– Cus D’Amato
I tell my kids, what is the difference between a hero and a coward? What is the difference between being yellow and being brave? No difference. Only what you do. They both feel the same. They both fear dying and getting hurt. The man who is yellow refuses to face up to what he’s got to face. The hero is more disciplined and he fights those feelings off and he does what he has to do. But they both feel the same, the hero and the coward. People who watch you judge you on what you do, not how you feel.
– Cus D’Amato
I’m not a creator. What I do is discover and uncover.
– Cus D’Amato
To see a man beaten not by a better opponent but by himself is a tragedy.
– Cus D’Amato
There are very few new things in this world, very few. That’s why people that are young, if they’re smart, try to profit from the experience of an older guy so they won’t have to go through all the pain and suffering. But a certain amount of pain and suffer is good, because it makes a person think they’ve learned.
– Cus D’Amato
There is no such thing as a natural puncher. There is a natural aptitude for punching and that is different. Nobody is born the best. You have to practice and train to become the best.
– Cus D’Amato
A fighter has to know fear.
– Cus D’Amato
When you get hit that’s when you’ve got to be calm. A professional fighter has to learn how to hit and not get hit, and at the same time be exciting. That’s what professional boxing is about. You’ve got to be clever, you’ve got to be smart, and not get hit, and when you’re able to do this, you’re a fighter.
– Cus D’Amato