I still feel that I am in my prime right now but I think my best fights were in my thirties.
We put our life on the line to fight for them, put on a show and these guys take our money so whatever happens to Bob Arum, Don King or anyone else is fine with me.
You can't put those guys like Marciano or anyone else in with today's class of fighters.
Don King was good to me through my years as champion, but I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him. He's a wheeler dealer and you've got to be careful. He's a great con artist.
Yeah, I thought I could be heavyweight champion of the world when I was working with Ali and Joe Frazier and Earnie Shavers and all those guys. Because they were older than me and I was doing my thing.
Mike Tyson would have been a good sparring partner for me and Muhammad Ali because Tyson was a fast fighter and he could punch and throw good combinations.
Fighters today are much bigger, stronger and quicker and not only that but referees, judges and doctors back then were very strict and if your head got busted up the fight would be stopped.
The guys today are just too strong and back then they would take many hard punches to land one.
Bob Arum and Don King can do their thing but if I fought for those guys and they put the money up like they are supposed to then I don't have a problem.
Earnie hit me harder than any other fighter, including Mike Tyson. He hit me and I was face down on the canvas hearing saxophonist Jimmy Tillis.
Muhammad Ali could take a very good punch. He was slick, he could move, he could hit, make you miss, good hand speed and combinations and one of the greatest fighters of all time in my opinion.
Everybody knows that I am one of the greatest fighters of all time and I would beat all those guys.
I have a lot of friends and fans in Canada and as a matter of fact I met a fan from there that came down to my office. It was nice and we took pictures and had a nice talk.
Tyson is a lot better than I thought, a lot better. People can talk about Spinks all they want... Tyson is the true champion.
When you constantly hear people talking about going the distance, going the distance, you can't help but wonder about it. I learned a lesson: next time I will fight my fight without that doubt.
Now I'm free of him and I'm light as a feather. There's no weight holding me down; I'm ready to spread my wings and fly.
I think a trainer is very important at the beginning of a fighter's career. A fighter needs to know how to throw a left, throw a right, how to duck, how to do certain things. Over time, you don't really need a trainer. You've got to train yourself. You've got to motivate yourself. And I don't think anybody can put that in you.
Boxing is already stable, as far as the opportunity to fight, opportunity for fighters to step inside the ring and make some money - I think that's OK, that's fairly legit. I just think fighters need to be represented when it comes down to making sure the "i" is dotted and the "t" is crossed.
You never heard of any of the fighters [in heavyweight division]. It is very hard to watch. It upsets me to turn on my television set and never be able to look forward to a good fight in that weight class.
I'm not a guy who counts cards. I'm a guy that plays with feeling. Because I feel that if something is going to come up, it comes up; if it doesn't, it doesn't. And a lot of people get pissed at me because that's the way I play but that's the way I learned to play - with my feelings.
Joe Louis was a good Heavyweight, good boxer but he was kind of in the same boat as Marciano, weighing about 190 to 200 lbs.
I don't know if I have any regrets, I have had a pretty successful life. I have learned good, bad, and ugly.
I think the world is changing. And it's changing so fast that people have to change with it.
[My] worst habit: Drinking too much Budweiser when I get angry.
Ali was a guy that had a lot of discipline. If you hung around him, you'd be able to get some of that discipline that he had. And I learned from that. He was a sweet man.
