I was a left hooker, and I loved hooking. I also really liked to jab and mix it up right away.

I grew up in a big Irish, Catholic family. My dad was a pretty rough guy. So one of my brothers left home when he was 15 and found his way to the gym. It gave me the opportunity to go and spend some time with him and work out in the gym.

You have a small period of time when you can perfect your career and become good at it. A lot of guys get distracted, which only hurts them. You must stay focused and work very hard at boxing.

All of the sports have a safety net, but boxing is the only sport that has none. So when the fighter is through, he is through. While he was fighting his management was very excited for him, but now that he is done, that management team is moving on.

With the Klitschkos, though, unless someone comes around, they can stay where they are forever! The heavyweight division is lackluster, and it will be until someone comes along who can test them.

Boxing was not the sport that I thought is was due to all the politics.

The only regret I have in my career, is my managers wanted a big payday, and I wanted four or five more fights before going in with [Larry] Holmes. That would have made all the difference.