I watched tapes and became a historian of the sport, and tried to combine certain elements and find things in the gym and saw what worked for me.

When I do a movie, I have the script. I know how it begins and how it ends. I know what my character does and where he's going. If I have ideas I want to express or changes I want to make, there's one guy: the director. It's different in television.

You can get into a place in your life where you no longer are in control of events, and events are in control of you.

I had been in the gym training for many, many years, but I definitely stepped it up when it was time to get into shape to play 'Lights'. I began trying to live the life of a boxer, and that means everything that you would expect.

If you're going to play a champion athlete, people expect you to look a certain way, and you also have to have the stamina to be able to continue to perform.

Boxing is a place where, if you haven't done the training, that's going to be exposed very quickly.

I take my hat off to my friend, Mark Wahlberg, because I know that it took him a long time to make 'The Fighter,' and he overcame a lot of obstacles to do it, and now the film is an unqualified success.