He's been an inspiration for me since the Olympics 1996.

It was like a musician playing notes. Everything we trained worked.

In Soviet times the border was closed so we couldn't get out of the country, and I had been reading Robinson Crusoe. I wanted to see the ocean, I wanted to see boats, I wanted to see black people, because we didn't have that in the Soviet Union. I was all excited by that stuff.

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.

I would compare it to an actor. I drive myself into the character that later on is in the ring.

I've been doing this 26 years and have a lot of knowledge which will help me in the ring.

I always train and prepare with highest concentration and focus on my next opponent. To me, it does not matter what his name is.