Except for Ali, fighters had never been marketable.

I saw Todd Bridges talk about being abused on Oprah. Something that he said, or an expression that he made that gave me that little boost I needed to be open about it and to talk about it as transparently as I did. When I told my wife, she couldn't believe it. She was petrified, because it's such a no-no, taboo, a hands-off subject. But I'd have to say hearing Todd Bridges on Oprah was my watershed moment.

When I was 15 or 16 and I started climbing up the ladder of success in amateur boxing, a reporter asked me, "What do you want to be?" I think he was expecting me to say, "A champion." I said, "I want to be special." I don't know why I said that, but I didn't just want to be a fighter. I wanted to have an impact with people, particularly kids.

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

I want to be great, something special.

You don't play boxing. You really don't. You play golf, you play tennis, but you don't play boxing.

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.