In the heavyweight division, you can't afford to make a mistake.
I've fought tactical fights in a gym, but never in a fight before.
I didn't live in L.A. I lived in Oklahoma, and I liked to do normal things with normal people.
I don't think I have HIV. I don't think that I ever had HIV. I think I had hepatitis. I got rid of the hepatitis, and since then, every single time I have tested for HIV, it has been negative. The original test was a false positive.
The rug was yanked out from under my feet by a misdiagnosis. All I want to do is fight.
I hate being around boxing people. I'd rather be back in the gym.
I'm guilty of reverse discrimination. I'm white, and people don't think that white fighters are any good.
I lived a permissive, fast, and reckless lifestyle. I hope I can serve as a warning that living this lifestyle can really lead to only one thing, and that's misery.
The mind is a very strong thing.
You can sit there and worry yourself sick if you're a mentally weak person.
With my style, training is very rigorous. You're toe-to-toe, getting beat on six days a week for five or six weeks leading to a fight. There's no fun, no glamour.
I just turned 27 years old, and there are mornings where my knees and ankles really hurt. I hurt all over. I would hate to be me when I'm 35 years old. I'll be a basket case, but I will have a lot of memories.
If I met a girl, I'd tell her straight up, 'I might run into someone else I want to go out with; don't be offended.' Was that acceptable to them? It had to be. There were enough girls. They were expendable.
I have had a couple of situations where I wasn't the strongest person in the world.
God, it's good to come home. No matter what you achieve, you come home, and everything is normal.
Boxing is a family tradition. The last five generations down to my dad have been fighters.
The 'Tough Man' contests were for 21-year-olds, but I weighed 150 pounds at 13, so I got a fake ID card and entered. My dad and uncles had given me an edge, so having a boxing background made it easier because a lot of the older guys didn't know how to fight.
It's a big move from the 'Tough Man' circuit to professional boxing. When I turned pro, I had to play catch-up and was fighting almost twice a month until I had more than 20 fights under my belt.
I just want to pursue my dream. That is to fight. That is what God put me here to do. He didn't put me here to be a doctor or a lawyer. He put me here to fight.
I would walk into a room, and people would be like, 'Hide the children. Here comes the guy with AIDS.' That's very demeaning, and it really hurts your spirit.
