I was a small kid from Huntington, Long Island. I never imagined that anything like that would happen to me.

I am a fight fan. I think boxing had its problems and kind of fell away for a while, but it's coming back strong .

You take that walk from the dressing room to the ring and that's when the real man comes out. Then you climb up those four stairs and into the ring. Then finally, you can't wait for the bell to ring.

By the time you're 30 years old, you can be on a nowhere street, if you're not careful.

I was a small kid from Huntington, Long Island. I never imagined that anything like that would happen to me.

The bad press came because they thought I should fight more. I couldn't get the fights because if I would sign to fight one of King's guys I would be signed to him. I chose not to do that. In hindsight, that might have been a mistake.

Like I say, boxing was on the floor, but it got back up.