To make a fighter you gotta strip them down to bare wood: you can’t just tell ‘em to forget everything you know, you gotta make ’em forget even their bones. Make ’em so tired they only listen to you, only hear your voice, only do what you say and nothing else. Show ’em how to keep their balance and take it away from the other guy. How to generate momentum off their right toe and how to flex your knees when you fire a jab. How to fight backing up so that the other guy doesn’t want to come after you. Then you gotta show ’em all over again. Over and over and over. Til they think they’re born that way.

Frankie likes to say that boxing is an unnatural act, that everything in boxing is backwards: sometimes the best way to deliver a punch is to step back… But step back too far, and you ain’t fighting at all.

People love violence. They’ll slow down at a car wreck to check for bodies. 

Same people claim to love boxing. They got no idea what it is. Boxing is about respect: getting it for yourself, and taking it away from the other guy.