When you start boxing when you're 7 years old, that's your dream, to become world champion, and after that you want to become something bigger than world champion.
In the 1930s, in boxing, to be the heavyweight champion of the world was really, really big, people wanted to see the toughest guys. But what I've figured out now, in the '50s, '60s, boxing started to become more entertainment than sport.
All my fans, especially my Latino fans and Nicaraguan fans, I promise you I will become world champion. After I become world champion Piccirillo can go back to Italy and make pizza or pasta or whatever it is he does over there.
I didn't expect one day I become world champion in the United States. I'm very proud to be together with boxing legends. It's a dream to be in with Muhammad Ali.
I am always looking for inspiration. I always live in big cities where I can go every day to a museum, see a lecture, meet people that are artists, go to the cinema. For me, it's like food. It is necessary for my personal growth as a person to grow as an artist, I go basically every week to three or four things. But it's real life that inspires me - when I meet somebody, when I see something.
To maintain a consistency when people come to see the band takes a lot of work; it takes a lot of discipline. I go to the studio every day and sing and play. I never did that when I was, like, 30. I'd probably have a drink and walk on - and see what comes out. But now if there's ten albums' worth of material people are coming to hear some of, and they've paid money for a ticket, you become a different person when you go on and you want to give the best show you can. You want to be better at what you do.
For me, being world champion, you have to put your body through these extreme tests, day in and day out. So when Sunday comes around, that's the day when I pamper myself. I might get a massage or go to a spa.
Every day as a kid, I went to the boxing gym. I knew boxing before I knew anything else. And I was once told if you show your child how to do something and you constantly push them, then eventually they'll become masters. They'll become a master of their craft. So that's probably what happened with me and the sport of boxing.
As the World Champion, every day is pretty much like Valentine's Day for me - as far as hooking up with the ladies.
When I first started boxing, I said that I'd fight in The Olympics, become world champion, and retire undefeated.
I like boxing movies. One of the hardest things for me to watch as far as boxing films, is the boxing. The actual boxing usually sucks.
I like boxing movies. One of the hardest things for me to watch as far as boxing films, is the boxing. The actual boxing usually sucks
I would like to cite an instance which proves the efficacy of clean living on the part of an athlete coupled with the inspiration received from a champion which go a long way to making a champion.
When I started boxing, people laughed at me and said, 'What can women do in boxing?' I took it as a challenge. If men can do it, why can't women? And I became a world champion before my marriage.
I never started in boxing to be a British champion or a world champion. There are loads of world champions in Britain, and if you mention them to someone out there on the street, nobody knows who they are.
There's an old African proverb that says "If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together." We have to go far - quickly. And that means we have to quickly find a way to change the world's consciousness about exactly what we're facing, and why we have to work to solve it.