Smokey Wilson was like my Gandhi. If I had run into somebody else in prison, with a different set of values, the world might have never known one of the greatest boxing talents ever to come out of Philadelphia.
The NBA has a voice that’s why they have a lockout. The NFL has a voice that’s why they had a lockout. Boxing is the only sport that’s individually represented the individual people – Managers, Promoters and Boxers.
I’ve got a history of frustrating guys and making them angry.
I’ve done so many unpredictable things and so profoundly. Even the people who want to go against me, are afraid to go against me. They’ve been wrong so many times. A lot of them are just being mum right now. They must feel I can still do things.
The streets was basically my parents.
I really didn’t care. I’d do something to somebody and walk in front of them the next day like it never happened. I had very very low value on my own life.
Anybody who thinks I’m taking this fight for a paycheck doesn’t know me. My whole life I’ve been achieving the impossible.
This is a great position to be in. I don’t really believe there is any fighter, in any decade that can be in my position of luxury that I’ve been in for many years.
I always not only want push the envelope in my career but I also have an itch for going against the grain.
The middleweight division is one of the most exciting divisions in the sport. Fighters can punch like heavyweights and have the speed of the lightweights. You have the best of world worlds.
There’s always a chance you will see something new in a fight. Especially in boxing.
You’re not going to see a new Bernard Hopkins. I’m too old for that crap. I think what you will see is something different that I know I am capable of doing.
Tavoris Cloud might actually be hungrier than me. How often do you hear a fighter say that his opponent is hungrier than he is? I don’t need hunger. I’m motivated by my desire to prove that I’m different and that I can still silence the critics.
Boxers are resilitant guys. We know how to take of a big punch that hits us, we know how to survive. Oscar is a survivor, he’s gonna be back bigger and stronger.
I still shop at Costco. I just started tipping two years ago.
I got knocked down. Anybody could be knocked down, anybody can be knocked out, but it’s not what happened, but what happens next.
I’m lining up my troops to go to battle with. Tarver is the man at light heavyweight. He has the credibility of the fans and media, and that’s what counts. That’s why I am taking this risk, but I am taking it by preparing myself with good people.
I was knocking guys out in the streets before I knew how to throw a jab and keep your chin down, In most neighbourhoods, the guy that could fight gets respect. You got in the parties free. I never had to pay the dollar because people were scared of me. But back then I was ignorant.
The powers that be don’t want athletes or boxers to become as smart as they are.
I’m 100 percent clean. I’m doing this off of nuts and bananas.
I don’t know what being a 48-year-old feels like. There are a lot of 48 year olds that aren’t in good shape. The pharmacy is making a killing off of them.