“I don’t have a preferred religion – I’d have to do research. I was born a Christian, but as I’ve grown into my own man, I don’t attach myself to a religion – 100 per cent, I have faith. Then it’s locking into what suits me.”

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.

Ali was a legend of our sport. For me as a kid, he inspired me to represent myself like a champion in and out of the ring.

As long as you have discipline, you can be a success. Discipline is what makes you do everything you need to do.

People are paying to see me. You’ve got to give something back.

There are two types of warriors: the one that rides through on his horse and tries to slay everyone, and the sniper. I try to be more like the sniper. Bang. Bang. Bang. Break them down, shot by shot.

Sportsmen just do what they do. I’m not trying to be a role model. If there’s any inspiration people can take from me, take as much as you can – from my good and my bad.

What makes a champion great is how he dethrones the guy before him. Look at Mike Tyson against Trevor Berbick and how he crushed him. You have to rip the title away from him.

America is the mecca of boxing, and they’ve had some great champions here. It’s good to establish your skills and let people know what you’re about in the States.

I think towards the end of my career, I’m the man. But right now, I’ve still got that underdog mentality to keep on proving myself time and again. I’m not going to believe the hype.

The mental is more important than the physical. You know, that voice in your head telling you to give up if it gets tough. That’s my main opponent – making sure that if your body wants to stop, your mind won’t let you.

For me to have a cheeky little biscuit, it’s not going to hurt. But I need to control those indulgences. I can’t just be scoffing cakes and biscuits five nights a week.

I kind of focus on my own stuff, really, and then when people come into my territory, I’ve got to fight them away, and that’s what we do every time fight night happens.

The corruption of religions comes from turning them to mere words and appearances.

Our government rests upon religion. It is from that source that we derive our reverance for truth and justice, for equality and liberty, and for the rights of mankind. Unless the people believe in these principles they cannot believe in our government.

Christ beside me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me.

The way to paradise is an uphill climb whereas hell is downhill. Hence, there is a struggle to get to paradise and not to hell.

The seeds of who I am now had been planted. Fools aren’t born, I wrote in my notebook one day during ethics class. They are watered and grown like weeds by institutions such as Christianity.

Surely you do not believe in the gods. What’s your argument? Where’s your proof?

Almost as many inhumanities are committed in the name of love as in the name of religion.

A Christmas gambol oft could cheer The poor man’s heart through half the year.