Looking out the window and seeing the MGM and Floyd Mayweather takes me back to when I was a kid. Those were the places you'd hear about, the ones that staged big fights and top fighters. You always want to one day fight there yourself.
When Don King's fighters lose their titles they come back fighting on the undercard for peanuts. King owns all the top heavyweights and we spar against each other but we get charged for it and that comes out of our purses.
We as fighters always want to fight the best possible opponents and the best fights. We want the fans and media to be excited about the fights that we have. I now believe that this is a big fight and people want to see it, I'm not sure that was the case a few years back.
Confident fighters are dangerous fighters. I know that. But there other fighters who said before a fight they were stronger than me, hit harder, were going to knock me out. Walters is a good champion but really how many quality fights has he been in compared to where I have been in my career? We both have speed, we both have power. It's an explosive fight. This is going to end in a knockout. I will go into the ring and do my best.
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.
The UFC offered me a fight against one of the Top-10 fighters named Demian Maia. I believe he was, like, No. 2 at the time. They obviously believed in me to think that I could face one of the best guys in the division.
I'm very open to fight Valentina Shevchenko. I always want to fight the best fighters and I think that she is one of the top female fighters in the world.
I'm not saying I'd walk through everybody. There's some great fights for me, though, and I'd put on a hell of a show with a lot of the fighters in the top 10. My pressure is second to none, and a lot of them don't have any way to prepare for what I'm going to be bring.
You need fighters like me to battle, because frankly The New York Times and the Washington Post are not going to fight the fights that I do.
Exactly, everyone knows me as a striker, but I want to show I'm a more well-rounded fighter so I can get some of the big fights with the top fighters.
I got messed up between my fight with Ken Norton and my fight with Larry Holmes; I got messed up with alcohol. I needed at least a year more experience, with three or four more fights before I fought Holmes. But I couldn't get any fights. Don King had all the contenders, and unless I signed myself over to him, I couldn't get a fight.
It's been frustrating. Since I've broken into the top five, I've seen the politics of fighters dodging fights, cherry picking fights and this that and the other.
That's why everybody loves to tune in and watch these fights, because at any given moment, any given fight, any given fighters, anything can happen. A fighter could win nine out of 10 times, but there's always that one time.
I've finished fights from my feet, I've finished fights with my ground-and-pound, and I've finished fights from my back with a submission, from top with submission. You name it, and I've finished a fight that way.
Its gonna sound weird, but Glenn Johnson is one of my favorite fighters, because he was one of those throwback fighters that could lose a fight, and then come back and win.
There are a lot of times I have seen someone fight, and I think the guy is tailor made for me until they actually get in the ring with me. Fighters that are more aggressive match up better with me. There is really no defense when a guy is trying to get you. When a guy is trying to get you, you cannot get him, which makes the most compelling fight.