I'm so opposite of my profession. No one - particularly my mother and father - ever thought I was going to be a boxer because I always felt that football and baseball were too dangerous. I was just such a quiet kid.

I'm a competitor and a very proud man. If a guy beats me once, he'll have to do it again to make me believe him.

I'm not religious, but I believe that what I have is a gift, and I respect it and live up to it.

The only way for a fighter to get back in shape is to fight his way back.

It is wonderful. It truly is. It is the only thing that is real! It's you against me, it's challenging another guy's manhood. With gloves. Words cannot describe that feeling of being a man, of being a gladiator, of being a warrior. It's irreplaceable.

When we got back to the U.S., I wanted to kiss the ground after seeing what people in other countries are denied or don't have.

To be honest, I don't know. I started one [book] back in 1982 or '83 when I first retired. But I was only 25 or 26 and not ready to write my memoirs.