I don't care where people come from. It is not important to me. If you are good people will like you, if you're not, they won't. It is simple.

The challenge for me is his size because, for the first time in my career, I'll be meeting an opponent who is taller than me and has a longer reach.

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.

It's such a gift in my life to be able to compete - to have the health.

On your way to the top, you always get some chriticism. Criticism is a great motivation.

I've fought everybody without ducking anyone. I have beaten 10 undefeated guys, and I never was comparing myself to the greatest in the sport. I was not thinking of breaking any records. I'm just enjoying my time in boxing.

I think we have tremendous media covering the sport of boxing, even if boxing is a little bit lost in popularity with MMA sports. And I think that with the show 'Lights Out' it's going to get more attention to the sport, and it's going to put more attention to the problems that athletes in general have.