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At the end of your career, you go, 'I'm gonna be able to retire undefeated and be one of the very, very few people in history to do it.' People were saying I should try and get to 50-0, but my number was 46 - that was it. I could have kept trying, but one loss would have spoiled everything.
You can map out a light plan or a life plan, but when the action starts, it may not go the way you planned, and you're down to the reflexes you developed in training. That's where roadwork shows - the training you did in the dark of the mornin' will show when you're under the bright lights.
I feel that I had been rescued from the gutter by America. One day I was under the gutter, chased by police, thinking dogs were going to get me. I laid there listening to the dogs and the gutter. The next day, there I am standing on the Olympic platform, and you hear the anthem. I was proud.
My dad was a kind of Kimbo Slice-type street fighter. He'd go out in the backyards up and down the Gulf Coast and duke it out. They'd wrap T-shirts around their hands for gloves, and take bets. He was a tremendous body puncher. One shot was usually all it took, so they called him 'One Time.'
I don't play video games. My husband does. He plays sometimes the football, and every once in a while when he gets bored, he'll do a little boxing in there. He gets into the football. You can trade players, and he keeps up with the whole aspect of the game, not just the game. He's a fanatic.
There were different heroes with different images. There was Mike Tyson, the animal, there was Evander Holyfield, the devout, the priest. And there was me, the thinker, the intellectual boxer. So there was something for every fan, if you like. The public could always identify with one of us.
It is very unusual for someone from Latin American society to openly stand by his homosexuality. In my hometown, there are still lots of prejudices against gays. We are often not considered to be fully-fledged people. The family is sacred there; having children means more than anything else.
There's no better feeling in the world than when I walk in a pub, or a nightclub or a bar or a supermarket, anywhere, and you see people out the corner of your eye and they're going, 'Hey, there's Ricky Hatton. Isn't he a good lad, coming for a pint with us in here?' It makes you feel proud.
I got real bored in '96. Wasn't nobody to fight. Nothing to look forward to. That's when I started playing basketball again. Had I not started playing basketball, my boxing career would have failed. But I went from a sport where nobody could touch me to another where I couldn't touch nobody.
Boxing is already stable, as far as the opportunity to fight, opportunity for fighters to step inside the ring and make some money - I think that's OK, that's fairly legit. I just think fighters need to be represented when it comes down to making sure the "i" is dotted and the "t" is crossed.
I learned that I had character defects, that I was allergic to alcohol and drugs, and that I had an obsession with all the bad stuff. But thank God that I woke and that I had good people around me to support me. There's not much more I can say about it. You have to want to be a better person.
The part that sickens me about boxing is guys fight their whole careers and they have nothing to show for it. That's not going to be my testimony. When it's time to get out of the game, I want to be able to walk away. I'm not going to jeopardize my health. I will have no problems walking away.
I get the headlines for being slick and different things like that - which is part of my game - but it's just amazing to me that a lot of times, the people don't see the other things that go on in that ring. But a lot of times, when my opponents figure it out, the fight is over. It's too late.
If we continue to think and live as if we belong only to different cultures and different religions, with separate missions and goals, we will always be in self-defeating competition with each other. Once we realize we are all members of humanity, we will want to compete in the spirit of love.
Manny Pacquiao has a whole country behind him. His journey and his rise, from a career standpoint, he was fortunate to have a lot of great opponents and rivalries for years. People forget about Barrera and Morales and those guys. That's how he built his legacy. Plus he had a country behind him.
He was WBC champion, I was mandatory. He had his opportunity to earn big money and defend against me, and he chose not to. It's as simple as that. He did not want to fight 'The Cobra', cos he knew he was probably going to get one of these (his fists) on the chin and it was going to be all over.
I have had to fight every single style coming up on my way to get here I wasn't fed anyone in any point of my career. I fought every style you could think of - righty, lefty, tall, short, power-puncher, fast guys, counter guys, so for me it is the norm - training for guys with different styles.
I wanted to be the best street fighter in Houston, Texas. And I thought if I got a trophy or two, I'd go back home, and everyone would be afraid of me. I had one fight in '67, the first one. In '68 of October, I was an Olympic gold-medalist, a dream come true, with a total of 25 boxing matches.
Sometimes the image of the intellectual boxer did for me more harm than good. If a boxer has a reputation as an intellectual, some people no longer respect him as a fighter. With me it was always ‘Lennox should react, not think’. But that’s nonsense. Only the guy who controls his opponent wins.
Many people are quick to say that we are not recognized by Muslims in the East . And I start with the Honorable Elijah Mohammed. In 1959, he went throughout the Holy City of Mecca to dine and wine with Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt and all of the black, mainly the rulers of the Islamic countries.
I am not an animal in my personal life. But in the ring there is an animal inside me. Sometimes it roars when the first bell rights. Sometimes it springs out later in a fight. But i can always feel it there, driving me and pushing me forward. It is what makes me win. It makes me enjoy fighting.
When boxers fight 3 minutes (per round), they have 3 minutes to box, so they are not in a hurry to show the judges who is winning. They have time to slow down their feet. In 2 minute (round) fights, they don't have time to slow down their feet. It's a fast speed because they only have 2 minutes.
When I was a kid, I did martial arts because boxing wasn't really available on Long Island. I think now kids are able to begin boxing earlier. So it's great and whatever can promote the sport on a whole is a good thing. And if we can do it on Long Island, where I am from, it's a beautiful thing.
Don't ever know who you may meet, or just because a person may not be dressed up all fancy, don't mean they're not an important person. You just don't ever know who you're gonna meet in life. So that's why I look at everybody as equal. Can't just judge. I treat everybody with respect. Every man.
I tell myself, 'You're great, you're powerful, you're strong. You're the greatest, most powerful, strongest fighter in the world.' I acknowledge my greatness. I bow down before my greatness. I inflate myself like that, and then I pop the balloon in a single sentence by saying: You can be beaten.
It's interesting that you put me in the league with those illustrious fighters [Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Jack Johnson], but I've proved since my career I've surpassed them as far my popularity. I'm the biggest fighter in the history of the sport. If you don't believe it, check the cash register.
I'm not in favor of that [mandating protective headgear ] because we learn as amateurs how to protect ourselves. And that's why there's a third man in the ring, the referee. And that's why there has to be a very strong boxing commission that doesn't allow guys in the ring who don't belong there.
It's great to see part of my culture doing so well in the sport that I'm involved in, a sport that I have a passion for. I grew up hearing about a lot of Argentine fighters, the great Carlos Monzon and even the fighters on ESPN lime Omar Vaez; and now guys like Marcos Maidana and Sergio Martinez.
Slowly but surely, as time goes on, people forget about you. People stop talking about you. You stop seeing your name in the papers. I like to believe that I don't think that will bother me. As long as I know I've achieved my goals and people believe I'm the best at what I do, then I'll be happy.
It's not just a trainer - as a man, my dad was unbelievable. Even outside boxing, he was my friend as well. We were boxer and trainer in the gym, but as soon as that bell goes, we'd have a cup of tea, and we'd go on about normal life. We would just leave that bit behind. That's how we kept going.
I have always been English, ever since I emigrated from England and since the kids in Canada beat me up at the age of twelve for having an East London Cockney accent. I thank them for the cockney taunts because the beatings turned me on to boxing. But on a serious note Canada has been kind to me.
Fear is your best friend or your worst enemy. It's like fire. If you can control it, it can cook for you; it can heat your house. If you can't control it, it will burn everything around you and destroy you. If you can control your fear, it makes you more alert, like a deer coming across the lawn.
I wanted to win the gold medal and then go home and further my education in college. I had no intentions whatsoever to become a professional fighter because I had heard horror stories about former boxers who made money but, in the end, ended up with nothing. I didn't want to be one of those guys.
A lot of my friends, when I was 14 or 15, they were all up and down, wanting to go out on a Friday night, and my dad had me working really late on Fridays and Saturday mornings and even on Sunday mornings. And when I'd finished all that, we used to spend the rest of the time talking about boxing.
I would have been more aggressive in the Ruslan [Provodnikov] fight if not because of my eye early in the fight. I had to protect that eye and be even smarter than I normally would. Don't be confused with my style just from that one fight, because I know a lot of you have only seen that one fight.
I abstain from any kind of release for six weeks before a fight, no self-pleasure, nothing. Even in my dreams, I'll be about to have sex with a beautiful girl and I'll say, 'Sorry darling, I'm fighting in a few weeks.' That's control, bro, when you're turning down a hot chick in your subconscious.
Boxing has always been work to me, a job. If I could say anything to a youngster taking up boxing it would be to "be smart and not take a lot of punches". It's called the sweet science for a reason. Hit and not be hit, make a lot of money without taking a lot of punishment. That's what it's about.
When you do well in school as a young person you can foresee a bountiful future for yourself. When you don't do well, the future you see is bleak. It's tough to find an honour student in trouble with the law. We have to feel that we're of value and we get that from people reacting to our prudence.
My family moved to the Philippines when I was 14. While living there, I learned that my mom grew up very poor. Seeing that kind of abject poverty firsthand during my travels deeply shaped my life. Seeing those living conditions motivated me to want to tell inspiring stories of struggle and triumph.
Maybe I was great in the ring, but outside of boxing, I'm just a brother like other people. I want to live a good life, serve God, help everybody I can. And one more thing. I'm still gonna find out who stole my bike when I was 12 years old in Louisville and I'm gonna whup him. That was a good bike.
It was a tough situation. A fight that nobody expected to end so abruptly for him because he was really a great fighter. I felt sorry for him and I knew it could happen to anybody. And it could happen to any of us at any time. So when I was in a position to help him, I did what I could to help him.
That was probably the most important fight of my career...he was this crazy guy, who acted like most adults that I knew as a kid, and I knew right away by him being so crazy and wild and quick tempered, I was gonna get under his skin and aggravate the heck out of him. And that's exactly what I did.
I'm a self motivated person, that's what got me to the point I'm at today. I don't take anybody lightly because this is what I do, this is my job. The day that I stop taking it seriously is the day I have to stop boxing. I would never put myself into a position where I go into the ring not prepared.
I'm an imperfect person. I've let anger, jealousy, all the emotions, get the best of me. If I go into books, word by word, little by little, they help re-center and re-ground me and put me on the right path. Life is a journey. I'm very focused on the things I do and have learned not to be pressured.
I don't actually think boxing is a particularly dangerous sport, I wouldn't even put it in the top ten of dangerous sports, but that's only if you take it seriously. Whenever I stepped into the ring I was well hydrated, I was at the right weight and I was prepared. It wasn't a dangerous sport for me.
I don't think about losing or worry about losing. I'm not afraid to let it go and I don't care if you beat me. If you do, that means you were the better man, but only elite fighters can beat me. There can't be shame in losing because you are up against great competition and there's always that chance.
I'm playing right now a role, and the role is called the 'Heavyweight Champion of the World.' And it takes all of the time. And I love this role, and it takes a lot of attention for me for the sport, and I just don't want to lose the title, so that's why I have to stay focused and not become an actor.
The thing I've most realized is that when people come up to me and tell me how much my story means to them, how much it was inspiration for them to see me fight through and push through with my career, I realized love is real. And there's no greater feeling in this world, to give back and touch people.
The last couple of years have been a good learning experience for me and a good journey. My first world title fight I fought Erik Morales and how much experience do you think you can get from that? A lot of people thought he would beat me because of experience. I've faced a lot of experienced fighters.
I went to see President Nixon at the White House. It wasn't difficult to get a meeting because I was heavyweight champion of the world. So I came to Washington and walked around the garden with Nixon, his wife and daughter. I said: I want you to give Ali his licence back. I want to beat him up for you.