My goal is not getting hit and to knock the other guy out. Some people might complain because they want to see boxers beat up on each other, but you cannot last long in professional boxing if you take a lot of punches.

I think that there's only one nationality and one language in the sport, and you call it performance.

Politics is comparable to boxing. The only thing is that in politics there are basically no rules. In boxing, you can get a black eye, but in politics you can get poison in your food or a bullet in the head. It's definitely rougher and tougher than other sports.

There is no money in this world that will make us fight.

The first thing I learned in boxing is to not get hit. That's the art of boxing. Execute your opponent without getting hit. In sports school we were putting our hands behind our backs and having to defend ourselves with our shoulders, by rolling, by moving round the ring, moving out feet.

Nobody is born as a champion. You have to earn it through hard work. Get started!

After Chernobyl, thousands and thousands of people, if not millions, were given a death penalty and had to pay the price, our father among them.