Iconic phrases which originated in boxing?

No worries - easy to confuse.

 

Certainly entered the popular lexicon due to Tyson, but Bruce “The Mouse” Strauss said basically the same thing to me (“Everyone has a plan til they get hit with a brick”) after he came to my hometown in the 1970s and got KO’d by our local main eventer.

(Granted, Mouse took a decent but hardly brick-like shot and decided to take the count, which was kind of what he did for a living.)

Not saying Strauss invented it, but Mike certainly didn’t — both of them probably repeating something they heard around the gym that had been said/passed down for a long time.

Kid McCoy is one of the multiple origins of the popularizing the phrase ‘the real McCoy,’ particularly in America (it started with ‘the real Mackay’ in Scotland much earlier).

 

“It’s not about how hard you can hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward.” (Rocky Balboa)

 

"You can run, but you can't hide" - Joe Louis during the first Billy Conn match

 

A lot of boxing terms like southpaw, going the distance (also attributed to horse-racing though iirc), "I need you in my corner," back to/stuck on the ropes, roll with the punches, don't pull your punches, beat me to the punch, saved by the bell, and throwing in the towel are all boxing-related phrases, though there's a lot more I'm forgetting.

 

-Down for the count
-Punching above his weight
-Punch Drunk

 

"Honey, i forgot to duck" when Jack Dempsey lost to Gene Tunney.

Decades later, Ronald Reagan reportedly said the same thing ("Honey, i forgot to duck) to his wife after the unsuccessful assassination attempt on him when he was shot.

 

Perfect…and along those same lines, having someone “on the ropes” is often used outside of boxing.

 

Excellent! Certain boxing parlance is applicable and right on the money in respect of numerous non boxing life events. I doubled up on your reference to being on the ropes, my bad.

Sort of in the realm but when commenting on someone’s bedraggled and/or beaten up appearance, it was of often said “Gee, you look like you’ve gone 15 rounds with <insert popular champion or fighter of the day>.

 

Ready to rumble
Going the distance
The greatest *insert nationality* to ever do it

 

Sullivan originated the term’ “the greater they come, the harder they fall”

Joe Gans also popularized the saying “bringing home the bacon”, which is what he telegraphed to his family while in training.

 

Joe Louis also has been quoted as using that same phrase back in the 40s

 

And, to go full circle (ish), the attorney Vincent Fuller who represented Reagan’s would-be assassin, later defended Mike Tyson at his **** trial. Which somehow, although Fuller was considered one of the nation’s foremost defense attorneys (representing mobsters, Don King, Jimmy Hoffa and one attempted presidential assassin, all in criminal trials) begat the phrase often used by Tyson defenders on here: “He was represented by a tax attorney.” (Maybe John Hinckley failed to pay his taxes, lol.)

 

I think that myth may have started (or gotten a lot bigger) due to the ESPN Sportscentury episode on Tyson. It was a good show, but gave completely wrong info on that.

Charley Steiner said in the episode that Tyson was represented by a tax lawyer. Because Fuller had successfully defended Don King on tax charges, he may have been under that impression.

You’re well beyond a “tax attorney” when you defend a would-be presidential assassin so well that he avoids prison, and then they change the “guilty by insanity” laws.

I think Hinckley is out nowadays. Under supervision but out in society.

 

I read it in a book about Tyson from around the year 2000. (Maybe Thomas Hauser?)