Billy Joe Saunders Quotes

I started boxing when I was eight. Me and my brother Rafael started boxing in amateur tournaments when I was 13. My father was an ex-pro boxer.

When I was 17 or 18, I realised I could do something with boxing.

I have been very busy having so many fights since I turned pro. To have 13 in little more than two years is a lot by modern standards.

It's a big move from the 'Tough Man' circuit to professional boxing. When I turned pro, I had to play catch-up and was fighting almost twice a month until I had more than 20 fights under my belt.

The Olympics are the biggest thing in boxing and the more you do as an amateur, the better deal you get as a pro.

Boxing was the only career where I wouldn't have to start out at the bottom. I had a good resume.

When I won the Golden Gloves in 1960, that made me realize I had a chance. And when I won at the Olympics, that sealed it: I was the champ.

My dad was actually a college boxer at L.S.U. and a good one, too. He was the captain of the boxing team.

I remember when I used to go to York Hall and just watch, and I'd be like 'how are these people doing it.' Even though I was an amateur boxer at the time, I was like 'how are these guys fighting professionally in this arena?'

I got the who's who in the boxing world; I've been training with the Lomachenkos, the Terrence Crawfords.

I always said as an amateur that I'd want to one day fight and beat Kindelan because he was the best out there.

Boxing has been good to me and I believe I have been good for boxing.

I'm looking forward to the fighting with no headgear - I'm jealous. I kind of want to go back to the Olympics to experience no headgear.

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.

I got messed up between my fight with Ken Norton and my fight with Larry Holmes; I got messed up with alcohol. I needed at least a year more experience, with three or four more fights before I fought Holmes. But I couldn't get any fights. Don King had all the contenders, and unless I signed myself over to him, I couldn't get a fight.

I'm not going to say that I'm the best, we respect our champions. Floyd's been doing this a lot longer than me, he's been a lot of mega fights and I won't dare say that I'm better than Floyd Mayweather.

I've been boxing for 25 years and I need exciting fights.

I boxed 15 years in a club.

We use the term 'fight' very lightly - 'I've been fighting so hard to get my car, I've been fighting so hard to get that job, I've been fighting so hard to get that girl.' But the reality is boxers do fight bitterly to get whatever they want or whatever they need in life, and most of them come from nothing, which is the case of Roberto Duran.

I'm very experienced in four-round fights because of my amateur career, and I've got a high work rate.

After doing boxing a little bit, I knew that I wanted to achieve what the other boxers were achieving: the championship and whatever comes with the championships.

My fifth pro fight, I got my first title fight.

Yes, I think about having a career in boxing, but I want to start from the bottom, start from zero. I want to get ranked and one day fight for a belt. I don't want to fight just to fight, for money, to go after big fights and challenge a great champion.

If the path is taking me to a world heavyweight championship, that's great, but all I really strive for and care about is putting on the best matches I possibly can.

I've competitively boxed. It's definitely Plan B for me, but I know how to box.