“I love fighting. I don’t know what it is in me, whether it’s a sickness or a gene, but I just love standing in front of another fighter and going for it: they can hurt me, and I can hurt them.”
“I don’t need celebrity friends. I don’t need new friends. I am what I am.”
“I want to cause havoc. I want to cause mayhem – and I mean the worst mayhem you can see.”
“I want to punch everything and fight the world.”
“You will all laugh and say I wouldn’t have a chance, but I would knock Andre Ward out – or I will outbox him. He is a pound-for-pound great, but I can match him on the inside, and he has never fought anyone who could do that.”
“Before I fought Adonis Stevenson in 2013, I had 4lbs to shift in a morning before weighing in. I had zero energy left to train, so the nutritional adviser said the only way was to drag it from my body in a hot bath full of salts.”
“When I go into a boxing ring, I’m willing to die.”
“I guess it’s rare, but even though I come from a broken home, I still believe I have the most amazing father.”
“I’m not a perfect person – far from it.”
“I like the thought of gaining revenge over WBC light-heavyweight champion Adonis Stevenson, who beat me in 2013.”
“The speed and timing go with age.”
“Make no mistake about it: nobody gives you nothing for nothing. You have to work hard to get what you want.”
“I just tell the truth. Some people don’t like it. Some people do.”
“Style makes fights; I’ve always said it.”
“Boxing is the only thing I have ever understood – I certainly don’t understand women.”
“I defy anyone in the world to trade with me.”
“What my family’s been through I can’t even put into words. We’re very close.”
“My legacy is secure.”
“When it’s all said and done, Linares is an exceptional fighter.”
“My dream is to fight at Goodison Park. Forget Wembley, or Vegas, I just want to fight at Goodison Park. It’s been a dream ever since I was a child; no one’s ever done it.”
“My dad, my missus, my sons, I do it all for them.”
“I am the best cruiserweight in the world.”
“You don’t brag about putting someone in hospital. It’s absolutely horrible.”
“I’ve mixed sparring partners up. I’ve done tons upon tons of rounds with big, heavy lumps who are trying to take my head off.”
“I’m just a normal fellow who gets punched in the face for a living and gets punched really hard at times as well. But you know what? I’m all right at punching them back.”
“People don’t drop me with shots on the temple.”
“As any fighter does, we all go down. Very few get up. I’ve done it on multiple occasions.”
“I say some silly things now and again.”
“I would never talking about hating a fighter. I don’t hate no one.”
“I fear no man. I really don’t.”
“I’ve made some bad mistakes in life.”
“I just want to be left alone.”
“I’ve never chosen the easy route to world titles or the easy route in fights, and I came up short against Stevenson.”
“I ain’t a 16-fight novice who has only fought at British title level.”
“I’ve always said boxing will not retire me, I will retire from boxing, and I stand by that statement.”
“I’m very lucky because less than one percent of boxers get out of the game financially secure.”
“Usyk could beat me – he’s beaten better than me, so he could beat me – but I just don’t think he will, and I will find a way.”
“Normal athletes couldn’t do what Premier League football players can do.”
“I just idolise Nigel Benn, the things he said, how ferocious he was, how intimidating he was – I just loved watching him. As I do the old Mike Tyson, the ’89 Mike Tyson. The Tyson who walked to the ring with a white towel on and looked ferocious. He frightened me just watching him.”
“I love looking back at the older fights; they don’t make them like they used to. Just watching Tommy Hearns, the technique in his punching, the brilliance and the combinations from the likes of Ray Leonard and ‘Sugar’ Ray Robinson.”
“I’m from the street. We all know that.”
“I’ve achieved all my dreams.”
“There will be no more fighting from me. The only things you will see me doing from here on in is trying to act sensible and behave myself.”
“I’ve had a fantastic career.”
“On May 29 2016, my wildest dreams came true. I became the WBC cruiserweight champion of the world at Goodison Park. The dream location, the dream title, the dream ending, a third-round knockout of Iunga Makabu.”
“I’m after megafights, and me fighting Haye equals megafight.”
“Especially with someone like me, my family know how much I push myself to the absolute limit.”
“My goal first and foremost when I walk into that boxing ring is to get home safe to my missus and three children, because they’re all in life that need me, and they really do need me.”
“Tyson Fury should be looked at as someone who conquered the world, defeating a nine-year king in Wladimir Klitschko.”
“I will beat Andre Ward. I will knock out Andre Ward. He’s a pound-for-pound king, but I will beat him.”
“Fighters like Bernard Hopkins can go on because their style is not based on reflexes and timing.”
“Boxing does not favor boxers over 35 who rely on reflexes.”
“Everyone knows I get off the floor, and I fight until the finish.”
“I can’t and won’t be defeated at Goodison Park, the greatest stadium in the world.”
“Stylistically, Tommy Hearns is much better than Marvin Hagler – his technique and punching were better – but he just couldn’t do it. He couldn’t beat Marvin Hagler, and it’s because styles make fights.”
“I used to be a light-heavyweight, and I’m much faster than cruiserweight. That’s the reason I didn’t struggle with David Haye’s speed, and David Haye is much quicker than Oleksandr Usyk with one punch and much, much, more destructive with the way he hits.”
“Usyk is less of a puncher than Lomachenko but comes with just as high a work rate, so Usyk has to take some to give some to be exciting, whereas Lomachenko has genuine power, and he can stop fighters with that power.”
“David Haye was a better fighter than me, but it’s not about the better fighter because the better fighter does not always win.”
“I’m the best heavyweight outside the world champions, and let’s not forget that.”
“Anthony Joshua is a friend of mine, and I’ve got a lot of time for him… I would never put his name out there.”
“Some say I’m arrogant, some say I’m deluded.”
“Some people have asked me do you think I got David Haye at the right time, but nobody said it was the right time when he weighed in with a six-pack, looking fantastic.”
“I could also lose to lesser fighters than David Haye, based on the fact that styles make fights.”
“Just because I beat David Haye doesn’t make me a great fighter. I’m still the same fighter that I was.”
“I am going to smash B.J. Flores to bits and be the first man stop him.”
“When I say something, I mean it.”
“I’ve earned every single thing that I’ve got.”
“I can sell a fight, make no mistake.”
“This World Boxing Super Series has been a breath of fresh air.”
“I knew about boxing, as my dad could fight. He had a successful security firm in Liverpool, and I’d see him come back from a jog before shadow boxing in the back yard. I’d watch and replicate what he was doing, as kids do. It’s funny how things turn out.”
“Getting into character to become ‘Pretty’ Ricky Conlan for the ‘Creed’ film was surreal.”
“When I’m training, I don’t think about anything else.”
“I like hurting people.”
“I’ve got a horrible bastard side. I get to let it go every time I go in the gym.”
“I was hoping David Haye would beat the fight out of me in the second fight.”
“I love the sound of a Tyson Fury fight.”
“I know what I am getting into with heavyweights. Not one of them can dictate against me because, firstly, they don’t have feet fast enough. Secondly, while there are far better athletes and stronger fighters than me, even some who are quicker, they don’t have the ring IQ I have. It allows me to dictate.”
“I had a headache for four days after the first Haye fight. I didn’t tell anyone, I just went to bed and thought it would go. But for four days it remained. Then I got my brain scan before the second fight, and I was worried when I went for it.”
“People wonder why I dislike my opponents. It’s not personal or that I hate them: it’s just that I know what I’ve had to sacrifice to face them.”
“As a heavyweight, I’ve not missed dieting. Those days where you’re sore or tired, it makes me feel happy to know I can eat a bar of chocolate.”
“I am not a heavy drinker, I’ve never taken a drug in my life, but I am prone to a pizza.”
“At age 68, I expect to be strapped to the couch with the remote control like Jim Royle.”
“I love ‘Rambo.’”
“I don’t claim to be the best boxer in the world. What I claim to do is give 100% when I get in that ring.”
“The one place in the world where I can feel like I’m completely in control, at home, is in a ring.”
“I just struggle with the fame thing and people thinking I’m something I’m not. I’ll always struggle with that until the day I die, I think.”
“I’m happy for people to rate and rank me as they want, but it will never come from my mind.”
“No matter what happens, I’ll never be the greatest cruiserweight. That title belongs to Holyfield.”
“I want people to remember me when I retire as a fighter who would fight anyone – that Tony Bellew was scared of no one. I’m happy with that. Anything more is a bonus.”
“That’s the thing with me: I’m never satisfied.”
“The Isaac Chilemba fight was draining.”
“Anyone can lose a fight. That doesn’t bother me. But the shame that comes afterwards is unbearable.”
“What people have to realise is that it’s not the fights that are really hard; it is the training camps. It’s living away from home for 12 weeks. It’s sparring with guys who are told they will get ã1,000 cash if they can drop me.”
“Do I beat a fully fledged, fully fit Tyson Fury? Probably not. But do I beat a Tyson Fury that’s been out of the ring for two years? Yes.”
“Boxing is all about timing. And if you take long periods of inactivity, you will be made to pay the price.”
“When I left school – or, rather, when I was expelled from school for hitting a kid who had disrespected a teacher – I had nothing, with nowhere to go. Where I’m from, it really means that. Now my family are millionaires. I never dreamed this would be possible.”
“In the build-up to a fight, I am scared, and I do worry about myself. But once I step into that arena, that worry has gone. A switch gets flicked, and I want to do damage. All I care about is doing damage as fast as possible.”
“People can dress it up however they want to, but boxing is life and death.”
“Every single time I step into a ring, the same thing is on the line. Take away belts, take away money, take away glamour and fame. Ultimately, I’m fighting for one thing, and that’s my life.”
“You’ll never see me go into a fight and struggle to get up for it. I understand first and foremost what’s at stake.”
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