I was hungry and I was looking for a way to better my life. With boxing, I didn't have to make a team. It wasn't like baseball or football. I could just walk in the gym and start doing something that I liked.
I switched to my new trainer Abel Sanchez to add versatility to my game. I'm coming to fight a serious fight. If I knock him out, it will just put another feather in my cap. I'm predicting a win, but I never look for the knockout because that's not my game plan. If my punches result in a knockout, so be it.
I'm going to give the people their money's worth...true sports entertainment for their dollar. I'm the undefeated IBF Light Heavyweight World Champion making my fifth title defense. The crowd will be with me because everybody wants to be with a winner.
I don't predict knockouts. The outcome and the performance I am looking for is a victory, nothing less than a victory.
I want to thank my amateur trainer. We started at the bottom together. Just because you were born at the bottom doesn't mean you have to stay at the bottom. After Saturday night, we're going to put that bologna away and go get a steak.
The word 'snooze fest' comes to mind when talking about Hopkins' fighting style, that's what a lot of people say. He's a boring fighter.
You have to go in there and hit him. Show him that his tactics don't work. Bernard Hopkins is a fighter that you have to get straight to the point with. You can't lollygag and bullshit because that's his game. Being serious and doing my job throwing punches in the ring, that's my game. I don't come to put on a show for the people. I come to give the people a fight and give them their money's worth; give them real entertainment.
I respect every fighter that gets inside of the ring, especially with me.
I came from nothing out in the woods near Tallahassee, Florida. My mom was a single mom raising five of us. It wasn't easy but she found a way to raise us to adulthood. We made it somehow.
In this fight I want to show people who are in poverty, downtrodden or denied that you can succeed. I want my performance to be an inspiration to people. You have to stay in the moment and keep moving ahead. I just want to show everyone that you can find answers to your problems and afflictions with hard work and perseverance.
The first day of training in Big Bear, it felt like somebody put a plastic bag over my head. After eight weeks up there, I feel very strong.
I'm ready. I feel like I can't be beat. You have to feel like that being a fighter. I just feel like this is a bigger type of energy. I feel like I've beaten so many odds. I feel kind of invincible. It's going to be a good fight.
