Quotes

When I was in prison, I was wrapped up in all those deep books - that [Lev Tolstoy] crap. People shouldn't read that stuff. When we read those books, what purpose does it serve in this day and time?

I guess I'm gonna fade into Bolivian.

[6/11/05, on his loss to Irish boxer Kevin McBride] I felt like I was 120 years old. I don't think I have it anymore.

My career has been over since 1990 . . . When I look at my fans, they don't love me. They love what I do. I'm an entertainer. I'm a performer. I entertain them. That's what I do.

I'm crazy, but I'm not crazy like that.

Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth.

I feel like sometimes that I was not meant for this society.

God lets everything happen for a reason. It's all a learning process, and you have to go from one level to another.

I don't try to intimidate anybody before a fight. That's nonsense. I intimidate people by hitting them.

I'm a Muslim, but I think Jesus would have a drink with me. He would be cool. He would talk to me.

As a young kid, I used to watch boxing films and I would stop the film when I'd see something I liked - the way he bowed, the way he'd hit somebody, or the way he stood with his belt - and I would rewind it and emulate it. Over and over again. I liked the villains best because you never forgot them.

Now, when we see a boxing match, we know who's gonna win before they start. Very rarely do they have even- matched boxers. And the promoters use only their own fighters to fight each other. That's almost like a slave contract.

Mostly, people who come from my neighborhood are statistics, like a lot of my friends. It was just a dog-eat-dog world. That's how it was. Learning to steal and fight at a young age, I was in a lot of trouble.

If I do a stage show with a big screen, it's because I guess people think I'm a notable guy. That's what I want to do. I love entertaining people. That's what links boxing and acting.

God, it would be good to be a fake somebody, rather than a real nobody.

I just want them to keep bringing guys on and I'm going to strip them of their health. I bring pain, a lot of pain.

When I was younger, I was all-out liberal. But as I get older, and I look at my children, and I see what's out there in the world, I get a little conservative. It's common sense, looking at the world we have now. You want safety.

[He] called me a 'rapist" and a '"recluse". I'm not a recluse.