Yes, it's true I once knocked out a horse. It was at a fiesta in my mother's home town of Guarare. Someone bet me a bottle of whiskey that I couldn't do it.
Getting hit motivates me. It makes me punish the guy more. A fighter takes a punch, hits back with three punches.
I do not fight for free. But I was born to be a fighter.
Fame doesn't make me any different. I am the same man now who grew up in the hard streets of Panama. I am just myself. I always will be. Whoever wants to talks to me, talks to me. Whoever loves me, loves me for who I am.
Every time I stepped into the ring, somebody wanted to kill me.
I'm not God - but I am something similar.
I was born to be champion of the world.
Everybody says it: black, white; everybody calls me a legend. Italians, Jews. Everybody.
I fought a boxer who everybody said I couldn't beat - Sugar Ray Leonard. They said he was faster than me. That he was the best of the best. And I beat him.
I laugh when Floyd Mayweather says that if he went back in time he would beat us all. I'll tell you this: if he was in the same era as Hagler and Hearns and Leonard and me, I don't think he would be such a big name. There is too much talk.
There is only one legend. That's me.
Currently, I'm working with a company called DRL Promotions with my partners Dan Wise and Luis De Cubas. We're currently representing over 30 fighters.
I want to thank America. You opened your heart so I could enter. Thank you everybody who lives in the United States, who saw me grow into becoming a world champion.
I really feel that if it wasn't for the accident, I'd still be fighting. I would have handled some of these fighters. I would have made sure that the doctors would have declared me physically sound; and after that, I would have trained.
Some of the old refs have favoritism toward some of the fighters that are currently fighting. There should be a changing of the guard with the refs, the same way there are with fighters.
De La Hoya doesn't know about salsa. He should keep on singing mariachis and leave the salsa to me. I'm good at salsa.
Right now, it's very difficult to single out one fighter, pound-for-pound, who is the best. Right now, it's very complex. Miguel Cotto, Mayweather and Zab Judah's a good fighter as well.
Nobody stands out right now. Everybody has similar styles. None of these fighters have reinvented the wheel and created a new style.
If I had the medical clearance to fight, I would want to fight the best. The best would be Mayweather.
The life of a boxer is about fighting for world titles.
