Look at football, where you still have injuries no matter how much they improve the helmets and other equipment.

Before the start of the '76 Olympics, I'd had 160 amateur fights. I won 155 and lost five

I'm not in favor of that [mandating protective headgear ] because we learn as amateurs how to protect ourselves. And that's why there's a third man in the ring, the referee. And that's why there has to be a very strong boxing commission that doesn't allow guys in the ring who don't belong there.

You just don't heal that easy unless you're young.

Boxing was the only career where I wouldn't have to start out at the bottom. I had a good resume.

They say that I'm stubborn, and my wife says that, too, but it's paid off so far.

You have to know you can win. You have to think you can win. You have to feel you can win.