No one but myself thought I could beat guys like Tommy Hearns or Roberto Duran
All I ever wanted was to be like Mike Tyson, Muhammad Ali, Roberto Duran, Tommy Hearns, Hagler and Sugar Ray Leonard. Back in the day American people knew who they were and I want them to now know Keith 'One Time' Thurman.
The likes of Sugar Ray Leonard, Roberto Duran, Tommy Hearns were true champions. There were some incredible fights between us, and I was happy to give them all an opportunity to fight me.
Bonjour to all the beautiful people of Montreal because this is like home to me. We had Sugar Ray Leonard here who changed the globe and took on Roberto Duran right here in Montreal. How did we get to Montreal? Because it's one of the fairest cities in the world. We were looking for a neutral site and we picked Montreal. Sugar Ray Leonard came in and Roberto Duran beat him - because we got our fair shake in Montreal.
Tommy Hearns seemed like an indestructible machine, so to beat him, I think that was my defining moment, the pinnacle.
Roberto Duran was the kind of guy who was a true fighter and you hardly see guys like that anymore.
From doing Power Station, it was like, it's the same guys, but it doesn't sound like them. When we were in Duran, the labels and management wanted more Duran stuff so they could sell it.
Loving Duran Duran has been one of the constants of my life, but I have no idea what they would sound like if the women in my life stopped loving them. I guess I'll never know. I could claim that Duran Duran taught me everything I know about women, but that's not exactly accurate: I learned it from listening to girls talk about Duran Duran.
Stylistically, Tommy Hearns is much better than Marvin Hagler - his technique and punching were better - but he just couldn't do it. He couldn't beat Marvin Hagler, and it's because styles make fights.
To portray not only a boxer but a boxer like Roberto Duran, I needed to understand all the difficulties and the pressures of the sport itself.
No one is the same after I fought them - Hearns, Duran, Leonard. All of them.
I'm not pretty. The truth is I didn't think I could be a model at all. I was looking at some of the guys on the walls at Irene Marie and I thought to myself 'Jesus Christ. I can't do this. I don't look anything like these guys'.
In the immortal words of Roberto Duran, we are saying, 'No mas!' We will educate students and then promote them, not the reverse
There have been many great fighters like Jake LaMotta, Roberto Duran, and Ricky Hatton. Hatton was a great inside fighter.
I started boxing because of my brother. And then I came to admire the all-time greats, like Roberto Duran and Muhammad Ali. I'd say I admired Ali more than any fighter in my life.
I love looking back at the older fights; they don't make them like they used to. Just watching Tommy Hearns, the technique in his punching, the brilliance and the combinations from the likes of Ray Leonard and 'Sugar' Ray Robinson.