T.J. Dillashaw Quotes

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

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.

I already know what boxers do; I've been in it all my life. I know what they do, and I know how they prepare.

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?'

Fighters like Bernard Hopkins can go on because their style is not based on reflexes and timing.

When I boxed against Jeff Lacy, that was one fight that I was so proud of.

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

I didn't watch one tape on Pacquiao. There is no reason to study him. He's not at this level.

My father was champion of North Africa and he beat the European champ. He was very good, a professional for 12 years. We're from a big family of boxers. My father has seven brothers.

But as an amateur, the highest level you can box at is the Olympics. I did that at 18 and felt it was time to move on to other challenges as a professional.

If I had the medical clearance to fight, I would want to fight the best. The best would be Mayweather.

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

I knew boxing before I knew anything else.

My father was a boxer, though. So, I have a particular interest in Ray Mancini, I think.

But my promoter Frank Warren knows what he is doing, and has been through this cycle many times with other fighters.

I've always boxed, I always taught boxing.

No, I've never competed. I did, however, train in a boxing gym with a good coach beginning in 1993. I'd been writing about the sport for a dozen years by then and wanted to know what boxers endured, what it felt like. I was too old to compete when I started, but I sparred enough to get a taste.

When we first started in Huntington Recreation with John Capobianco, we put four kids in the Golden Gloves finals. We didn't even have a ring. We trained at Stimson Junior High School. They give us the gym three nights a week. We used to box in the gym - no ring, just on the gym floor.

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

I've been boxing since I was eight, and that's a long time to take punches day after day.

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

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

Middleweight is my category.

I have experience of boxing. I know what it is like to be hit. Half my life is boxing. I start fighting when I am 16.