“I don’t want to sound obnoxious, but I like to think I brought it another step. I was able to bring people who were casually interested in boxing together.”

I’ve spent my life navigating through sensitive issues. Not wanting to upset people.

Boxing is changing and training methods are slowly being dragged into the 21st century.

Work hard, think fast and you’ll last.

What I would say about Barney Eastwood is that when our relationship worked, it worked extremely well. He had a lot of strengths as a promoter and a manager.

A pit bull is like a fighter. Every so often it needs to taste blood.

I’d had 35 professional fights and mentally I was tired of it. I’d sort ot fallen out of love with the sport.

Every fighter has a story that could break your heart. We lose, we get hurt and everything comes apart. That’s when it’s so difficult to stay on the straight and narrow.

The trouble with boxing is that too often it ends in sadness.

If somebody had told me in the 1980s that Gerry Adams would shake hands with Ian Paisley or Peter Robinson I would have said put that man in a white suit and lock him up in a padded cell.

I get people to this day – I won my title 25 years ago – saying how wonderful a time they had during that dark period in our history when they came to watch me fight.

I wanted to bring people together, and most importantly not feel threatened when they came to watch me box.

I train very hard, either rowing on the cross trainer or running. Not only do you feel tired afterwards but it relaxes you, it completely clears the head. But to sort things out I also like to walk.

There is nothing like wealth for dulling desire.

I never compare myself to anybody. I don’t look at my accomplishments compared to anyone. I’m happy with what I’ve accomplished in boxing.

A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.

I’ve seen George Foreman shadow boxing and the shadow won.

Boxing is real easy. Life is much harder.

In boxing, you never know who you’re going to face in the ring.

I just want to make money, get on with my life, and be involved in good fights. If I’m not going to be involved in good fights, then what’s the point being a boxer?

Boxing is a sport. We allow each other to hit each other, but I’m not treating my opponent like my enemy. We’re doing a job to entertain people.

Training’s training; boxing’s boxing. Everyone does the same kind of stuff: they spar, they train, they do whatever they do to prepare for fights.