Even with not having that many matches under my belt, I handled the match against Svitolina well. When I was younger, not having that many matches under my belt, I might not have done that.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
My first match was against Razor Ramon. I lost. Come to think about it, I lost a lot back in those days.
I learn from each match that I have, especially when it's a different opponent.
I lost a lot of judo matches because of points fighters. It was extremely frustrating for me.
The situation right after the fight wasn't too good; I believe I'm still the only champion in the world who never received the belt inside the ring once you've won the title. I held that against the English fans for a long time but I felt that also motivated me.
My greatest point is my persistence. I never give up in a match. However down I am, I fight until the last ball. My list of matches shows that I have turned a great many so-called irretrievable defeats into victories.
You should be able to have good matches against anybody.
I trained and trained and went up against Kurt, then being a world champion in '94, and after that I did Tommy's tour and then my tour and all this stuff and just trying to deal with it all. And now, I've just kind of backed off a little.
Each match I play is the most important one yet.
I'm happy I was able to stick through it and was being very disciplined with what I had to do, because I know eventually hard work will pay off. It's only a matter of now just trying to make sure I get matches under my belt and I feel more and more comfortable playing matches.
From one match to the next, I kept on winning.