I wanted to bring people together, and most importantly not feel threatened when they came to watch me box.

If somebody had told me in the 1980s that Gerry Adams would shake hands with Ian Paisley or Peter Robinson I would have said put that man in a white suit and lock him up in a padded cell.

I wanted to bring people together, and most importantly not feel threatened when they came to watch me box.

I don't want to sound obnoxious, but I like to think I brought it another step. I was able to bring people who were casually interested in boxing together.

I've spent my life navigating through sensitive issues. Not wanting to upset people.

I get people to this day - I won my title 25 years ago - saying how wonderful a time they had during that dark period in our history when they came to watch me fight.

A pit bull is like a fighter. Every so often it needs to taste blood.