“It’s not so much about conquering Madison Square Garden or Vegas. The opponents who I fight will take me all around different venues and arenas. I need to conquer opponents.”

I want it all: I want the attention and live for the glory nights.

There’s so much pressure on becoming the next Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson, and if you don’t achieve that in boxing, you’re nothing.

Boxing is the embodiment of who I am, but beyond that, this is a journey of the self, and my obsession to get the most from this short life.

I’ll get seven hours sleep a night, but after breakfast, I’ll have an hour just resting, to recover. In Spain they all have siestas, even businessmen.

Don’t worry about the title. Worry about what you’ve got to do today, tomorrow, the next day, and that title will be waiting for you.

Boxing’s a sport that gives you licence to act like an idiot, I think.

People have built me up to be untouchable, unbeatable, invincible, and I’m not that. I am a man, and I am a winner, but that can change in a second.

When you are caught with a big shot, you don’t really feel it. It’s like being in a car crash, and maybe your arm has been ripped off… it is only when you look down at it that you realise it has happened.

I know every fight could be my last fight, and if that happens, that’s not just a health issue, but I’ll be knocked off that king’s stool.

No matter how big and strong you are even Tyson said he was scared as hell walking to the ring. Everyone feels the pressure.

I still feel I am that 14-year-old kid, hungry and trying to find a way through life. That’s what I’m trying to develop, trying to be good at something through boxing. But I feel like that young kid who’s trying and trying.

The way I meditate is by being organised. I can get real Zen if I go home and tidy the front room.

I didn’t make the most of school, but boxing has given me discipline.

Prayer is a form of meditation, isn’t it? It’s laws of attraction: whatever you put out into the universe is what it receives. It’s just kind of putting your thoughts out into the universe.

Wherever you get to is better than where you started. To stay on the road is a massive achievement.

Cardio is a nice way to start the morning, man. Whether you sit on the bike for half an hour or throw on two jumpers and just sweat, it’s good to get up, get the body active, put on your headphones, and just pedal away.

More than a decade of continuous war and tough combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan gave birth to a new generation of leaders in the ranks of America’s fighting forces.

War exposes the best and worst of those who are called to fight. I know of no man who lacked character in peace and then discovered his character in combat.

Any soldier worth his salt should be antiwar. And still there are things worth fighting for.

To fight against the infidels is Jihad; but to fight against your evil self is greater Jihad.

I have no regrets. I find everything happens for a reason and the reason why maybe this is happening is I won’t take BS from anyone. And I think it’s making me stand out on my own and be very independent and fight for what I believe in.

Do not think that one has to be sad in order to be militant, even though the thing one is fighting is abominable.

We long for permanence but everything in the known universe is transient. That’s a fact but one we fight.

Fight and push harder for what you believe in, you’d be surprised, you are much stronger than you think.