There's so much pressure on becoming the next Muhammad Ali or Mike Tyson, and if you don't achieve that in boxing, you're nothing.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
It takes a certain type of man to become a boxer, to fight for a living. To be able to have the confidence to hit another man, to control your fears. You must overcome the psychical aspect and believe in the art, the discipline of the sport. You need to study. You need to be smart.
I'd love to be the Ali of women's boxing, to retire as the greatest.
In order to understand the mindset of a boxer, I needed to become a boxer myself.
There's such a big buzz around boxing at the moment. Everything's happening and there's so much building up with a lot of young talent coming through.
Boxing is a sport, but it's also entertainment. I wanted to transcend the sport and be considered just not as a fighter, or a champion, but someone very special.
Boxing is a dying sport, really. Years ago, the world heavyweight champion could be said to have reached the highest pinnacle of sport. Even in this country, boxers were heroes. Think of Henry Cooper and Frank Bruno.
It's not just the physical aspect of boxing, it's the whole fighter mentality that has been ingrained in me through the years as a competitive athlete. One of the hardest things you'll ever do is to box - to get into the ring and to face off with somebody whose whole goal is to knock you out, to hurt you, and to be able to fight back.
Boxing is the embodiment of who I am, but beyond that, this is a journey of the self, and my obsession to get the most from this short life.
As a boxer, you have to put risk in to get to another level.
Boxing's not a career for anyone: it doesn't last long enough to be a career.