"I'm the greatest thing that ever lived! I'm the king of the world! I'm a bad man. I'm the prettiest thing that ever lived. I shook up the world! I want justice..."

I’ve wrestled with alligators, I’ve tussled with a whale. I done handcuffed lightning And throw thunder in jail. You know I’m bad. just last week, I murdered a rock, Injured a stone, Hospitalized a brick. I’m so mean, I make medicine sick.

They say actually every time I enter the ring, in a way, I`m going to the war. They say to me daily, you are a prized fighter, what`s the difference? And I like to say to those critics of the press and the others that there is one hell of a lot of difference in fighting in a ring and going to war in Vietnam.

People sold everything - their cars, their land for miles, to come in and see me beat. I went to the bank laughing every time.

Floyd Paterson and other fighters, they just don't take part.They make a million dollars, they get a Rolls Royce and a nice home and a white wife and think, 'well, I made it'.

Sometimes I feel a lot of things but I keep it in. I'm sure we all have this built-in radar of what we predict and when it happens, we feel 'I knew it'.

Do you know why I’m the fastest heavyweight in the world? I’m the only heavyweight that trains underwater!