David Haye Quotes

The first thing I do when I book a fight is I go to the Internet and I print out a picture of the guy and put it on my refrigerator.

The more fights I have the more relaxed I get in cage or ring. It's all about experience. It's something that I try to do because I fight better when I am relaxed.

You rewind. You think of your preparation. You think of everything you did throughout the week, your life, the practices, the intensity. Everything flashes, and you come right back to that point. And it's like, game on.

My concentration level blocks out everything. Concentration is why some athletes are better than others. You develop that concentration in training and concentrate in a meet.

The mind is absolutely instrumental in achieving results, even for athletes. Sports psychology is a very small part, but it's extremely important when you're winning and losing races by hundredths and even thousandths of a second.

I'm supposed to relax and concentrate on the image of myself out there skating my race.

So you have to be more mentally focused in baseball.

I've been in a poor physical shape many times in my career and I've had some of my best results. My best performances happened because my mind was in the right place. The mind is definitely stronger than the body.

Touring is really about being on edge the whole time - you're like a racing horse: you've just got to be on. You've got to pull it together.

Games bring another level out in you. There is no way you can train to the same intensity when you are playing a game. It is just impossible. Your head won't allow you to do it. Because the adrenalin of a game and the importance of it steps it up to another level.

I don't think about the press or the crowds or the other leaders of the race. The focus is only on myself. As soon as I see the targets, I tune them out.

To win Grand Slams you have to be in the right frame of mind, the right physical shape.

When you reach that elite level, 90 percent is mental and 10 percent is physical. You are competing against yourself. Not against the other athlete.

Normally, I would run with a group of guys in my camps. A couple of days before the fight, I would run by myself. That was my time to choreograph the fight in my head, so I needed to be myself.

A lot of times when you play... you get this adrenalin that blocks pain.

Before a match, I need to be alone. I need to reach concentration and focus on the game ahead of me.

Most of my best games were when I felt crap - I could hardly move on the morning of the World Cup semi-final in 1990 - but there's a thing called adrenaline that gets you through.

I know if I want to have a chance to beat the top players, I need to be mentally ready for that.

When you're doing any event on an elite level, you're in tune with your body.

As long as you put the effort in with your practice, the muscles in your arm stay relaxed and mental preparation is all it takes.

When I'm getting ready for a fight - when I'm in that locker room or I'm making that walk and I finally get to the Octagon - it's all spiritual.

The calmest part of my day is right before a match.

I always feel like the freshest boxer going into competitions.

I was thinking on the rollers today that, before a race, if I could just pick my brain up and put it on the side of the track for four minutes, it would be perfect.

When I set my eyes on the gold at the world championships, I was able to maintain that focus that whole day. That's what I aim to do in Rio - my focus is gold, so I can keep in that good state; I can't get too complacent. I can't relax; I can't be content. I need to be 100 per cent switched on.