I never cheated on nutrition, I always had a really good diet and I always supplemented well - that's a massive factor in any sport. Even in everyday life, if people are just going to the gym recreationally, they'll have targets in mind and if you're not supplementing correctly or concentrating on your diet, you're wasting your time.

I'll never be able to replace the feeling of standing victorious in the ring, that's never going to happen again and I'm never going to fight again.

I don't actually think boxing is a particularly dangerous sport, I wouldn't even put it in the top ten of dangerous sports, but that's only if you take it seriously. Whenever I stepped into the ring I was well hydrated, I was at the right weight and I was prepared. It wasn't a dangerous sport for me.

I won four world titles, got beat twice - but avenged one of those losses - and the other loss was on points to someone who was unbeaten in Andre Ward. I had a comfortable, successful career and it wasn't through natural ability but through dedication and hard work.

The only person in the world who could knock me out is my anaesthetist.

Sometimes big boxing matches should take place on the cobbles. That's really where Mikkel Kessler and me ought to have sorted it out.

Make no mistake, the days and hours before going into the ring can be stressful for any boxer. The bigger and tougher the fight the greater stress, But if a boxer knows he's stepping out of his league it's even worse.

Sparring is not as tough as a fight.

I don't need to do that many weights but every now and then I do the bar, with 25-30 kilos on either side, which amounts to roughly probably my body weight. I lift this up above my head, then drop it and lift it up again.

You can improve your punching power, but only to an extent. If you can punch hard, then it's just god-given, that's just nature, not nurture and there's not much you can do to develop punching power.

I've been in the ring with big-muscled heavyweights and cruiserweights, who couldn't punch the skin off a rice pudding, and then I've taken on light welterweights and light middleweights, and they hit hard, and you can see they're not trying.

What I will say though is that I've got quite a big back, from doing pull-ups, and that will make your punches more solid. But in terms of the hardness of your punch, it's about timing and speed.

When good fighters fight, they often make predictions. It's all part of the media hype beforehand.

I can say, 'right, I will stop this kid in round five.' If I am good enough to do that then fair enough. I don't gamble but my brothers and my friends, they did quite well off it.

If Jermain Taylor was a bit fitter and he had a bit more steam in the tank towards the end, he might have survived and won on points, but he didn't have any energy left in the tank, because I sapped it out of him. I absolutely punched holes in him for the last three rounds.

Andre Ward beat me fair and square on points in a boring fight, a dull affair. Same as when he beat Kessler. Headbutted him to bits, but he knows how to win. He wins ugly, but he knows how to win.

People have been upset in the past about pay-per-view fights because they got sold a lie or an illusion that was not real.

Apparently, we've been to the moon in 1969, 1970. We've been there six times, I don't believe a word of it. Some people do.

You manage your injuries if you're serious about fighting.

I've had an operation on my knee, two operations on my hand, injuries on elbows and stuff but you get through it.

The Golovkin thing came up and I said 'fight me at 172lbs and I'll think about it' and he wanted me to go down to 166. He wouldn't even come up to super-middle and I was already retired by that point.

Golovkin cannot win a fight against me, he's not big enough.

I had a lot of rematches in the amateurs. You don't always know what an opponent's going to do. I do find that I beat them more easily second time around.

A fool can never be made to question his own wisdom. And George Groves is very foolish. He believes his own nonsense. He cannot stay with me for 12 rounds. He's not tough enough.

Your body releases a natural endorphin when you're fighting. You don't feel pain.

I'm a fighter.

I don't think there is anything more proud or glorious than standing in the arena as a fighter - that you've done it in on your own. That's why I love fighting.

No sport is more geared to the warrior's code of honour, pride and respect. That's why I love boxing. It's mano a mano. One against one. It's driven by fear and your need to conquer it.

I'm involved in fight of the year nearly every time I fight because I put it all on the line. I don't look to keep out of the way and nick a decision.

I'm a very proud warrior and with that mentality comes great fights: especially when I'm in with opponents that mean business.

I don't want to be the country's best-kept boxing secret. I want to cross over from being a boxer on the back pages to the front pages and become the big superstar I deserve to be.

It's not ideal; I don't want to get a bad decision. If I win the fight, I expect to get my hand raised at the end of it. But, if people see it's a bad decision, it gets sorted out. You get another shot, or you fight someone else at the top level.

You don't want to be going into any fight thinking you've got to get a knockout, or force a stoppage, because it takes you out of your gameplan.

I've had a Japanese judge, a Mexican judge in the past, and they have done some ridiculous scoring.

I've been through the highs and lows. I know what it's like to taste defeat and it's not nice.

I know what it's like to fight against the crowd from when I went to Denmark to fight Mikkel Kessler. He's like David Beckham over there, he gets blanket coverage in the papers all week, and you could hear a pin drop when I was landing my shots. There was no respect for The Cobra out there. There was no noise, no love, nothing.

I'm a winner.

My mum and dad split up when I was five years old, and that was quite upsetting. But ever since then, I've been very hard.

I'm quite a ruthless, cold-hearted bastard. I always have been.

Audley Harrison is quite a soft, gentle guy. He gives it all the talk but, when he's in the ring, you can see he's scared to death.

When I say I am going to win a world title, I mean it; when I say I'll fight the best, I mean it; I say I'll fight Joe Calzaghe because I wanted to. When he vacated, I lost sleep over that. It had nothing to do with money or the belt. He was renowned as the best super-middleweight in the world and that is what I want to be.

I don't talk for the sake of talking and I don't talk with a forked tongue.

You can't talk about Golovkin in the same breath as me. If he thinks he can beat me, he's not from planet Earth.

Gennady Golovkin is a small middleweight, I'm a big super-middleweight. The fight was maybe talked about a year after I retired and it was never going to happen.

I always give Calzaghe credit. He was a great fighter, really tough, unbeaten in 46 fights. He's never, ever given me any props at all. And for that I'd love to punch him in the face really hard.

There is an age limit of 35 on amateur boxing. They should consider putting an age limit on professional boxing.

I boxed till my late 30s, so 47, that's impossible really to be at your best and if you aren't at your best you shouldn't be boxing.

Boxing is not like any other sport, you have to weigh up the risk and reward. Things like playing football, tennis, you might be three sets to love down, but boxing you're going to the hospital on a stretcher and you know potentially you are going to get an injury you can't walk away from.

A three-month training camp writes you off, I wake up and I literally can't get out of bed.

It's not too late actually to speak to somebody about psychology, it's never too late.