I just go out and do my job.

I was sooo skinny.

There's no WAR for being a good teammate, so apparently that means older guys can't get paid.

There's a lot of pageantry involved in opening day, flyovers, extra long TV breaks and stuff. To say that it's not important, more so than some other ones, it is. It's the first game of the year. but I got 30 starts to make. Each win or loss is equally as important.

If I'm not going to make the pitch, then so be it. I'm not going to try to manipulate the ball or muscle the ball over the plate where I want it to go.

Regardless if your career is short or long, I personally would rather win more often than not.

You have more of an opportunity than people think to impact a game through the tone that you can set. You can't control everything, setting that tone is important.

I tremendously value wins.

This is a game of failure, for the most part.

We definitely like to celebrate the wins, that's for sure.

I've had a long, long road with lots of ups and downs. But that's all behind me now.

I'm a real person. I have real feelings. I have real thoughts. It's a quality people like about me. They can reach out and touch me. I wouldn't give it up for anything.

I've spent most of my life in prison. I was a prisoner of my fear and my low self-esteem.

All of the sports have a safety net, but boxing is the only sport that has none. So when the fighter is through, he is through. While he was fighting his management was very excited for him, but now that he is done, that management team is moving on.

I have a Roman nose. It roams all over my face.

The bad press came because they thought I should fight more. I couldn't get the fights because if I would sign to fight one of King's guys I would be signed to him. I chose not to do that. In hindsight, that might have been a mistake.

I grew up in a big Irish, Catholic family. My dad was a pretty rough guy. So one of my brothers left home when he was 15 and found his way to the gym. It gave me the opportunity to go and spend some time with him and work out in the gym.

I had two managers who couldn't stand each other. I had a promoter, Don King, who couldn't get any fights, and I was fighting once a year. I knocked out Norton and then didn't fight for 13 months. Then I fight the heavyweight champion of the world.

I don't overswing any more. I can throw a punch and be right in position to punch again. No more 'Hail Mary' punches, where it took me five minutes to get back in position.

I am seeing all the guys, like Earnie Shavers, Tex Cobb, and Larry Holmes all the time.

Long Island has a great boxing tradition.

You go through pain. You feel uncomfortable, uncomfortable, uncomfortable until you change. I acquired a different outlook.

I saw my brother have an altercation one time. He hit a guy with a left hook to the body and a right hand to the chin. He not only knocked the guy out, but out of wind. That stuck with me. It scared me.

By the time you're 30 years old, you can be on a nowhere street, if you're not careful.

They said if I'd fight a ranked contender, I'd get a title shot. I did that, and the next day they changed the rules.

It's tough waking up in the morning and reading derogatory stories about you.

The fight with Holmes was a plus. I gained so much experience.

You take that walk from the dressing room to the ring and that's when the real man comes out. Then you climb up those four stairs and into the ring. Then finally, you can't wait for the bell to ring.

I was a small kid from Huntington, Long Island. I never imagined that anything like that would happen to me.

I am involved in minor league baseball. I go around the country speaking to troubled youths, trying to help them understand that whatever path they choose, they'll need to really pay attention to it.

I was a left hooker, and I loved hooking. I also really liked to jab and mix it up right away.

About 99 percent of fighters end up broke. F.I.S.T. helps them turn the page and find new goals.

I had personal problems. I was spending 50% of my life on my family, 50% on boxing. Neither was getting anywhere. It was killing me. So I had to break away from fighting.

You have a small period of time when you can perfect your career and become good at it. A lot of guys get distracted, which only hurts them. You must stay focused and work very hard at boxing.

Muhammad Ali was the kind of guy you either loved or hated, but you wanted to see him. I happen to really love him. He brought boxing to another level and always made you laugh.

Roberto Duran was the kind of guy who was a true fighter and you hardly see guys like that anymore.

Growing up training, I use to get up so early I would wave to the garbage men going by. So, I had this relationship with Blue Collar America and I really liked it. I felt that lots of those people looked forward to me winning.

Boxing was not the sport that I thought is was due to all the politics.

If you look at my career, towards the end you will see I was fighting like once a year. I was not part of the Don King top heavyweights, so I was kind of kept out. His guys were getting three to four fights a year and I could only get one.

I lost three times in my career. Losing to Holmes I could deal with, because I lost to a true champion.

When that bell rang, I wanted to go out there and do my thing.

I feel very blessed.

When somebody used to compliment me, I'd spend 10 minutes trying to talk them out of it.

I always felt I was wounded. That I was no good, a piece of crap, and that I wouldn't amount to anything, because that's what my father always told me. I just felt like I didn't belong anywhere.

My father was one tough man.

It takes a strong person to admit he's got problems. Things are bugging you, you've got to get it out. Life is supposed to be peaches and cream, but it doesn't turn out that way. I sometimes found things confusing and sometimes didn't understand how things can be so difficult.

I just like people. We have a good time together.

The road hasn't always been paved for me. People identify with that. Everybody passes through hard times, and I think that's part of my appeal - that I have, too.

When I get finished with fighting, I hope they ask the same questions. It's not my purpose to answer them. Boxing is the art of self-defense. I knock 'em out the first chance I get.

People haven't seen enough of me. My fights haven't gone the distance, and people have a lot of questions. I want to find out for myself as much as the people do. I want to find out what I can do.