I don't give a f***. We're not fighting. I don't care what anyone thinks about me. All the stuff I have to do outside the fighting, the promotion, this, I don't give a f***. But when I am facing up for a fight, I know what they're thinking. I can read their minds. When I am going face to face with an opponent, nose to nose, I can smell the fear, and I'm feeling no fear at all.
Real champions fight through adversity.
I am in the fighting game, I don't care about anything else. I don't watch the news, I don't care about politics, I don't care about other sports. I don't care about anything I don't need to care about. This is my sport, it is my life. I study it, I think about it, all the time. Nothing else matters.
I will cross that bridge when it comes. I am not stupid. I am a very bright guy. I know that in the fighting game, you get people who get brain damage and do themselves long-term harm. I am into it in a big way, and I am good at it, and I am going to get very, very rich and then I will get out and we will see what comes after that.
A fight is mental, not just physical and psychological warfare is absolutely part of that.
I am not a big crier. But I'd say it was after the Mendes fight. It was not because of the fight as such. It was everything leading up to it. It had been such a tough time. When I did my knee, I had some very dark times. Life is all about ups and downs and I'd say there had been a lot of downs, but I got through it, I won and after the fight, I was standing in the shower and I was crying, just letting it all go.
It's gone, boxing's gone. What is there in boxing? Who is there to talk about, who is there that people go, "Yeah I want to fight him?", and fans go "I wanna see that fight"? There's Floyd Mayweather, and he is 38, 39, he's maybe got one fight left. What else is there? He'll have a last fight or two and a couple of guys will get a few million dollars, but way less than I'm gonna be getting in future. This sport is getting bigger all the time, and I am making it bigger.
I work hard and fight easy.
There are people who have great skills, who do great things, but don't embody the whole animal that is the fight game like I do.
One of the reasons I got into this game was because I wanted to learn how to get myself comfortable in uncomfortable situations. I grew up in a tough area of Dublin, and fighting was just part of your life. Boys fight, and I won some, but I lost a lot too, and I didn't like that, I didn't like that feeling of not knowing whether I was in danger, in trouble.
I won't ever shy away from a fight and if it makes sense down the road, I'll do it. But it will be on my terms.
If I could bust out and eat anything... if I ever stop fighting, I could put on some serious weight with sweets.
Face adversity head on in your training and you will conquer it smoothly in your fight.
I don't feel negative emotions. I feel calm, composed and ready. And as it goes on I get better at it. By the time the fight is on, I don't feel any emotions at all.
Late switches are part of fighting and I've handled them all.
My diet is usually pretty consistent whether I'm training for a specific fight or not. I don't like to mess too much with it.
Listen, I am in the fighting game, I don't care about anything else.
