The way my father raised me, we don't pat ourselves on the back. We don't call ourselves great, we let other people do that.

In the school of boxing that I come from, that's frowned upon, giving up free shots, cos we know what those kinda shots do to a man's career, regardless of whether it shows up now, or shows up when you least need it. It takes a toll.

I told myself that I'll do everything within my power to never let that happen again.

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.

Anybody that's in my weight class, above me or beneath me, I keep an eye on.

Let him tell us he's never been hurt, but that's the definition of getting hurt.

I don't abuse my body, I've been off 10 months, I still train and I'm always thinking about boxing, so I felt like I would be fine and I just wanted to challenge myself against another top caliber fighter.