My mother imparted on me that I must be a good custodian of my father's name and that is what I ask of my children. One should conduct themselves in the correct manner, respect one's elders and do the right thing.Collection: Respect
If you are learning how to box, any type of support will make you weak. Any type of support is counterproductive.Collection: Learning
No one escapes the long arm of the law, they are a business, they are very good at what they do and eventually they will catch up with you.Collection: Business
To be exceptional you have to be alone, that's the life of a warrior.Collection: Alone
Broccoli is not as bad as people make out. It might give you wind, but I'd prefer to have wind and have good health. Health is the number one thing on the planet. However, I am quite partial to rum and raisin ice cream.Collection: Health
Fear gives you your intensity, it gives you your game.Collection: Fear
When I was 11 my school held a sports day near Crystal Palace. We were told we were going to play a rugby match. The ball was eventually passed to me and I was obviously expected to run with it. I took one look at all these players charging towards me, placed the ball on the ground and walked off the pitch.Collection: Sports
From the age of 17, I lived the life of a hermit and dedicated myself to gym life, first in the South Bronx and then back in England. I was in a bubble and I bypassed a lot of popular culture.Collection: Age
The feeling between two fighters is profound. We go places where normal people don't go. You smell a man's blood, it smells like rust. You get into a clench, you feel his strength, you feel his desperation, he feels yours. You're sharing this.Collection: Strength
Solitude is the companion of warriors.
Obsession is a synonym for magic. Magic is a synonym for genius. It's a knack. It's an aptitude.
When I finished boxing, all that was available was commentating. But that's not me. I've got too much artistic licence to get out.
I admire rugged hard men who play rugby because it's something I would never contemplate.
Most of the planet is covered with water, so there must be a clue to its worth in that fact.
I'll fight anyone I can beat. I'm a businessman first and a boxer second. I'm looking for the readies. The aim is to win at all costs.
There are certain things you must not say in spite of the fact that supposedly democracy means free speech. No. You are not allowed free speech. If you speak freely, you are then deemed as I was, to be a subversive.
I am not a meathead.
Every fighter has a duty to boxing to not bring themselves or the sport into disrepute by foul language or behaviour so that boxing can be seen as a gentleman's sport.
One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.
I moved to New York aged 16, and worked part-time in a Korean store in South Bronx selling groceries, bread and confectionery. I earned $10 and it was painful because I didn't want to be there. I also worked in Debenhams as a kid, and a Wimpy in Brighton when I was 20.
You play football, rugby, tennis. You do not play boxing. When a sportsperson is in a game, when it gets too much, you quit. But in boxing you can't quit. You have to be taken out.
A lot of people think my head is flat.
There's a correct way to succeed. The incorrect way is to do things incorrectly.
I don't drink in public. I don't swear on TV. All I want is for people to say Chris Eubank is an all-right guy.
I failed my HGV licence three times.
For lunch I like corned beef, white rice and fried onions, which I've eaten for as long as I can remember. My father used to make it; now, no one does it like me.
I'm a good man and a bad fighter... I've got the gladiator in me.
I am a sensitive, emotionally conditioned human being, and I have suffered racist abuse.
At 19, I decided to turn professional and accepted my first fight for $250 at the Atlantis Hotel, Atlantic City, on October 3 1985. It set up my whole career and life.
Money's just a medium. I am extremely wealthy in all other regards.
Fortunately, I was technically skilled, so I didn't have to bludgeon people, I didn't have to batter them.
I was sensitive, I was emotionally intelligent.
The only thing I have to do in this life is stay black and die. No one can force me to do anything.
What can you say to someone like me? When you've got 19 world championship wins, it's almost like you're cursed because you're too good.
I am a strong father.
My father, who was illiterate, smoothed iron for Ford Dagenham and we'd get up at 5;30 A.M. to give him a jump-start. My mother was a nurse and part of the Windrush generation. Growing up in east London, we were financially poor, but rich in hope and dignity, and we were happy.
Fear is what activates your tools; your jab, your movement, your speed, your ability to absorb punishment.
Boxing is a mug's game.
I've prospered because of my father. I know I'll never be his equal, but I've prospered because I've honoured my parents.
I've tasted the bitter beatings.
I probably give 80% more to my children than my father gave to me and still it doesn't come up to scratch. I don't feel guilty about it. Do my children love me? I think that is self-evident. Will they have psychological scars? No, because they have a wonderful mummy.
To be accused of ignoring my roots is pig ignorant.
I am benevolent.
I'm not bankrupt of effervescence. I'm not bankrupt of craic.
It's the only thing that allowed me to win so many championship fights and allowed me to put up with the bigotry of the media, the keyboard warriors, the critics. I've endured it all because, spiritually, I am buoyant, alive.
In accordance to the way that Benn speaks, he is not educated. Sure, he's educated to a certain extent, but under different circumstances he would be a bouncer on some door in the West End and he'd have three kids from three different women... I am a superior person to that. I have finer points.
I am always fully in tune with the interviewer, who is usually trying to make me look silly. My objective is quite the opposite during an interview: I never use my wit or my intellect to make the interviewer look silly.
My objective as a mentor, as a father, as a manager and as a former participant of the great game of boxing is to protect mine, but also the opponent. Especially if I can see things which I have experienced before.
Michael Watson is a part of me. It's in my head, it's in my grain. There are scars within me. Therefore, those scars are what allows me to steer and protect other fighters.
The people who have done it - I have been in there - a lot of people love boxing but they have not actually been in there, and haven't tasted the bitterness of a beating.