I always had a fetish for fighting big peoples. My dad put me in the ring with much bigger guys. In my first fight, I gave the guy a 14-pound advantage.
I wasn't a big guy. People thought the big guys would eat me up. But it was the other way around. I loved to fight bigger guys.
I prefer to fight a bigger guy. I don't like fighting smaller guys; they give me problems with their agility.
My dad was the way he was, but he also gave me a motto: never say die. Just to keep pushing and pushing, fighting until the end. He put it in my head that you're always going to fight, and you're always going to beat them.
Madison Square Garden, November 1984. I don't recall taking too much fear into the ring. I knew I could fight. But I got a big shock. They put me in with this rough, tough veteran called Lionel Byarm. He tested me to the limit. But I fought my heart out and, in the end, I prevailed. The story of my life, in my very first fight.
Forward, always moving forward, from the time I can remember - a kid. I was short, and the big guys would take advantage; I had to turn myself into a body puncher. By that time I was in reform school, they'd have a boxing match every week; they'd bring guys in from outside to fight me.
I'm my dad's kid, and I'm still, right or wrong, fighting that uphill battle, and I'm not saying that makes sense. I mean my dad didn't hire me at Fox... but it certainly gave me my start, and I think I'm always kind of fighting that.
I know the first seven years of my career I thought I had to be this big tough guy. But in a world where you have guys taller and bigger, that role was already filled.
I never had a postup game, which really hurt me eventually. Later in my career, teams would put smaller guys on me to stop my shooting and driving and I wasn't able to exploit my height advantage. I would just take bigger guys outside and drive or shoot my setshot.
I don't want to be one of those guys who says, 'No, I won't fight that guy' or 'I won't fight the guy there; I need to fight him here,' or that sort of stuff. The UFC says, 'This is who you're fighting next,' and I say, 'Cool. Let's do it.'
A guy like Manny Pacquiao or Floyd Mayweather is used to fighting 12-rounders. Put them into the ring for three rounds against a top amateur boxer at a much faster pace, and they'll lose a fight, and how bad is that going to make them look?
For sure it takes longer for bigger guys or tall guys to be really agile. Growing up, my dad and a few coaches always said that's the first and main priority for me, agility and quick feet, before getting strong.
It's often said that the Democrats fight 'for the little guy.' That's true: liberals fight to make sure the little guy stays little! Think about it. What if all the little guys were to prosper and become big guys? Then what? Who would liberals pretend to fight for? If the bamboozlers fight for anything, it's to ensure that the little guy stays angry at those nasty conservatives who are holding him down.
I believe that every fight we've had is a big fight, and every fight we've had is a fight where I've learned a lot of things in the ring, I learn about myself, and it's sort of pushed me to know where I can go.
Most of the time, I'm fighting guys who are 22 years old, former college wrestlers, athletes, kids who are in much better shape than me. Often people who are much bigger and wider than me. It can be dispiriting at first.
Young guys should focus on maintaining their football position. Coaches always say the lowest guy wins. I'm a taller guy and a bigger guy, but because I'm always in a great football position is why I think I'm able to get away from guys still. It gives me a chance to recover.
When you take a pound-for-pound style fight in other weight classes or with guys who have proven themselves against a lot of guys, it opens eyes and gets people talking.