If you're up against a smart opponent, make him think himself to death.
These young guys are playing checkers. I'm out there playing chess.
In boxing, there are lot of things that happen where they try to slow down the process and try to get to the other team, trying to get into our heads.
You have to think and act quickly. You have to quickly come up with a solution to beat a player, because most of the time, you are in a one-v-one.
My way is to talk to my opponent so he makes it a personal thing. He starts playing me one-on-one, and forgets about his team. Meanwhile, I'm still playing team ball and eating him up. Some guys tried talking back, but you can't get a talker when a talker's talking to you.
There are at least three kinds of advantages that the pitcher and batter contest. There's the physical advantage, the strategic advantage, and also the psychological advantage. I didn't want two out of three. I wanted them all.
All the time he's boxing, he's thinking. All the time he was thinking, I was hitting him.
I don't fight safe; I fight smart.
I had a lot of fun playing football and basketball, but deep down, the chess match or cat-and-mouse game between the pitcher and batter in baseball really drew me in. It's a thinking man's game, and for me, nothing can compare to that.
Bobby Knight told me this: 'There is nothing that a good defense cannot beat a better offense.' In other words a good offense wins.
