Yeah, I thought I could be heavyweight champion of the world when I was working with Ali and Joe Frazier and Earnie Shavers and all those guys. Because they were older than me and I was doing my thing.
Mike Tyson would have been a good sparring partner for me and Muhammad Ali because Tyson was a fast fighter and he could punch and throw good combinations.
Now I’m free of him and I’m light as a feather. There’s no weight holding me down; I’m ready to spread my wings and fly.
You can’t put those guys like Marciano or anyone else in with today’s class of fighters.
Joe Louis was a good Heavyweight, good boxer but he was kind of in the same boat as Marciano, weighing about 190 to 200 lbs.
The guys today are just too strong and back then they would take many hard punches to land one.
People think that I reached the top overnight; well, it took me fourteen years. I was twenty-nine before I really made it. I’ve had my jaws and hands broken. One arm is out of place. I’ve paid my dues in this business.
We put our life on the line to fight for them, put on a show and these guys take our money so whatever happens to Bob Arum, Don King or anyone else is fine with me.
Earnie hit me harder than any other fighter, including Mike Tyson. He hit me and I was face down on the canvas hearing saxophonist Jimmy Tillis.
Muhammad Ali could take a very good punch. He was slick, he could move, he could hit, make you miss, good hand speed and combinations and one of the greatest fighters of all time in my opinion.
If you don’t follow Don King, you get stepped on.
Don King is a hip exploiter, an intelligent flesh peddler.
Don King was good to me through my years as champion, but I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could throw him. He’s a wheeler dealer and you’ve got to be careful. He’s a great con artist.
I don’t owe Don King anything. I got things with my own sweat and blood. I don’t know if I’ll be associated with Don but I won’t be a slave or puppet for him.
With a record of 75 fights and 6 losses, some of the losses were very questionable including Brian Nielsen when we fought in Denmark. I knew I won but they didn’t give me that fight.
I still feel that I am in my prime right now but I think my best fights were in my thirties.
Bob Arum and Don King can do their thing but if I fought for those guys and they put the money up like they are supposed to then I don’t have a problem.
Fighters today are much bigger, stronger and quicker and not only that but referees, judges and doctors back then were very strict and if your head got busted up the fight would be stopped.
I was probably the best that ever walked this earth. And I could take a punch. I could deliver a punch. I didn’t have the hardest punch in the world but my punches were sharp and they were crisp. And if you took too many of them, you would be knocked out.
I’m happy with my career but I could have been happier if I could have been treated like a champion should have been treated because management and fighters take advantage of fighters.