My coaches know when it's a big fight, I'm at the gym because if they give me some pretender, another actor, I might not take it.
Whether it's Alexander Brand or Sergey Kovalev, I approach every situation the same way.
In boxing, some fighters let the occasion get to them and they let their opponent get to them. With me, it's just another day at the office.
Mental toughness must be developed before you start fighting because you don't want to be that guy who quits in the ring.
I don't try to knock 'em out, I just know I will
When you're in the ring, you're ready to do your thing, but in a relaxed state.
Of course I am tough, but I am smart, too. I'm more smart than tough. People watching my record and say that this guy is tough. This is not about tough; this is about mind. You think when you fight. This is about everything.
If you go in the ring and box and you're angry, you're gonna lose the match.
You don't want to be going into any fight thinking you've got to get a knockout, or force a stoppage, because it takes you out of your gameplan.
I'm never out there looking for the KO. If it's there, I'll take it.
I train hard every day, you know. And some days are better than others. Sometimes I punch someone in the face and sometimes I get punched in the face. But I can deal with that outcome because it's instantaneous. It's in the moment and you can learn.
That's why I work every day. Ev-er-y day. I want to knock people out.
I think of all my fights as title fights. I don't think about what can come up afterwards.
Ever since I've been boxing, it's always been the case that when I go inside the ring a switch goes off and my attitude changes totally from the person I am outside it. I really can't explain why or how.
In boxing, if you think you will lose... you're already halfway there.
You take it fight by fight, day by day. That's how I live it. That's how I train.
I just want to take one fight at a time.
The art of boxing is seeing spaces and being able to take shots. The hitting and being hit have to become one. Your reactions have to be so in the moment. There's no time to think.
Boxing is all about how cool and controlled and clear your mind is. Violence only gets in the way of you winning a fight. It's a sport that's more about the strategy than anything. You lose or you win in your head.
I come in the ring to feel, check, and see my opponent. Then I understand him and understand the fight.
The Ricky Hatton that beat Kostya Tszyu in 2005 can beat Floyd Mayweather, he was so focused and in such amazing physical shape that he would have given anybody at that level a tough time.
I don't abuse my body, I've been off 10 months, I still train and I'm always thinking about boxing, so I felt like I would be fine and I just wanted to challenge myself against another top caliber fighter.
I just take it one fight at a time.
All the time he's boxing, he's thinking. All the time he was thinking, I was hitting him.
In the school of boxing that I come from, that's frowned upon, giving up free shots, cos we know what those kinda shots do to a man's career, regardless of whether it shows up now, or shows up when you least need it. It takes a toll.
