You don't knock Ray Mercer out with one or two shots. You have to make him quit.
— Tommy Morrison
I boxed until I got interested in other things. My first car. Girls.
I'm going to bring the championship home to Kansas City.
Ever since I was a kid, I've been confident of coming out on top in a brawl, but the ring is a lot different from a bar. That's been my problem.
The one thing that made me somewhat of an animal is I didn't have anything growing up.
I was one of the most popular fighters of my era.
I don't ever think in terms of losing. That's not even a possibility. I've been beaten once, and I don't ever want to experience that again.
People thought I was crazy for fighting Michael Bentt.
Friendships can go only so far.
I saw a chance to make the 1988 Olympic boxing team and forgot all about football.
I've always been painted as this party animal.
The fact that there's never been a single documented case in the history of this planet of anyone ever contracting HIV in the ring seems to me like a leg perfectly strong enough to stand on in terms of a lawsuit.
People need to cut me a break.
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.
Boxing is a family tradition. The last five generations down to my dad have been fighters.
I have had a couple of situations where I wasn't the strongest person in the world.
When I lost to Ray Mercer, I was young. I deserved to lose that fight because I hadn't learned how to cover all the angles in preparation. I was immature.
Ray Mercer has the heart of a lion and a great chin.
I thought I had the potential to be a better fighter than I'd ever be a football player. Besides, it was something my father always wanted me to do. He told me since I was a little kid I was a born fighter.
Talk about the area of overcoming adversity, sucking it up, I rate myself a 10.
People don't like to see a sloppy fight, to see heavyweights wallow around. They like to see exciting fighters.
I didn't have the greatest equipment or the greatest facilities. I would see people with new shoes and better cars. I knew what I wanted and what I had to do to get what I wanted. I became a very Spartan person at a young age because of that.
When I was 19, my heart wasn't in it. I hated training.
I realize that there's a whole generation of kids out there like me who are totally disregarding the moral values taught to us by our parents.
I've made a lot of mistakes in my life.
Everyone wants to see the heavyweight division unified. It'll happen.
I'm a white guy in a black sport. I really forget about it until someone asks me about it. I'm simply competing in a sport that I love.
My life out of the ring caught up with me.
HIV changed my life, but I think I've accepted it. I don't even think about it unless someone brings it up.
I would walk into a room, and people would be like, 'Hide the children. Here comes the guy with AIDS.' That's very demeaning, and it really hurts your spirit.
I'm happy in Oklahoma. It's closer to family. Nobody expects anything of you there.
I know one thing: Ray Mercer is not going down from a head punch. I think he's got one of the best chins in the game.
If I met a girl, I'd tell her straight up, 'I might run into someone else I want to go out with; don't be offended.' Was that acceptable to them? It had to be. There were enough girls. They were expendable.
I just turned 27 years old, and there are mornings where my knees and ankles really hurt. I hurt all over. I would hate to be me when I'm 35 years old. I'll be a basket case, but I will have a lot of memories.
I was the first player at Jay to play four years varsity. As a frosh, I was a punter. From my soph through senior years, I started as a linebacker and tight end and was all-state as a senior.
There's a family tradition of fighting in the Kansas City Golden Gloves. My older brother, Tim, did, and so did my father's two youngest brothers, Trent and Troy. They all won the Golden Gloves. So when my mother asked me to keep the tradition going, I did.
Boy, I wouldn't want to live in L.A.
I think there's a lot of people out there who, if George Foreman had to get beat, I'm the one fighter they would like to see beat him.
My life has been very much a roller coaster ride. Not just the boxing part, not just the acting part, just my childhood, what I was into at a young age and the things I was exposed to, it's just very abnormal.
I am not a big fan of Mike Tyson. I almost idolized him for what he did in the ring - he was such a great fighter. But his behavior out of the ring... he needed to realize he was in the public eye, and there is a responsibility.
I like fighting people that scare me a little bit. People that scare me seem to motivate me, and when you motivate me, you get the best performance out of me.
I thought I was bulletproof, and I'm not.
I would welcome a Mike Tyson fight with open arms.
It took me awhile to learn the public eye was on me.
Very few fighters get a chance to come back.
I could always fight overseas, but who wants to do that? They'd really have to make it worth my while.
I just want to pursue my dream. That is to fight. That is what God put me here to do. He didn't put me here to be a doctor or a lawyer. He put me here to fight.
The 'Tough Man' contests were for 21-year-olds, but I weighed 150 pounds at 13, so I got a fake ID card and entered. My dad and uncles had given me an edge, so having a boxing background made it easier because a lot of the older guys didn't know how to fight.
God, it's good to come home. No matter what you achieve, you come home, and everything is normal.
There's nothing more intimidating than crawling into a ring.
