Roy Jones Jr.

Every day, it was the same: school, homework, farm work, training. Getting hurt or dying might've been better than the life I was living.

Fishing keeps you alive, gives you time away - to enjoy God, the creations that He made. Because God made you.

I was so scared of my father. He'd pull up in his truck and start looking for something I'd done wrong. There was no escape, no excuse, no way out of nothing.

I always had a fetish for fighting big peoples. My dad put me in the ring with much bigger guys. In my first fight, I gave the guy a 14-pound advantage.

I had more energy at 25 and did more jiving around. People got to understand that when you're not so interested in something, you're not gonna do it to the best of your ability. I used to get excited working the crowd, but no more.

I don't care about no boxing legacy. I don't care where they put me on the list of all-time greats - let them put me at the bottom.

My dad sacrificed his relationship with me so I'd be stronger for it. But I could never do it to my kids - I like to have a happy relationship with them.

They've made it a felon to drive from Florida to Louisiana with any fighting birds, so I've had to get rid of most of my chickens. I only got about a hundred left now, which I just keep for colour and breeding. I love those birds as much as anything.

One thing I learned from the '88 Olympics: It's not a question of if they can screw you over: it's a question of if they will. It's not the gold medal they took away from me. The medal doesn't mean anything. It's that they said I lost. That experience is well and alive in my mind.

I got real bored in '96. Wasn't nobody to fight. Nothing to look forward to. That's when I started playing basketball again. Had I not started playing basketball, my boxing career would have failed. But I went from a sport where nobody could touch me to another where I couldn't touch nobody.

If I fought like I was looking for a place in history, it would ruin me as a person. I don't think history is worth selling my soul.

Mayweather was TBE - The Best Ever - at making money, but look at his highlights and look at mine. You can't pretend it's the same.

I give my roosters the best of food. I give them the best of care. I give them everything they want before I ask them to sacrifice. Get a rooster comfortable, and he'll fight his ass off. That's all I ask of HBO. They just can't see that.