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When I first stepped into the boxing gym, I loved it. I knew it was what I was going to do.

I was always active, always running and working out. I was a wrestler and ran track and, out of interest, started boxing. It's always been a part of me.

I was an OK boxer, I wasn't great, I was OK, but I loved the discipline of getting together every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, usually Saturday afternoons too, with a whole bunch of mates and training, very, very hard for about two-and-half hours.

I ran into a couple of guys who were boxers. They talked me into working out at their gym. I became obsessed with boxing and the idea of becoming a champion.

I got into shape because I took kick-boxing lessons every day to prepare for a fight scene with Taylor Lautner. I really wanted to lie down and eat Chinese food, but I kick-boxed every morning and ran. If someone was filming you with your kit off, you'd do the same thing.

I took up boxing as a fitness thing. I got obsessed, and I would go every day when I wasn't working. It's just an insane sport when you get into it.

I've always found boxing to be an incredibly pure sport. The level of character of most fighters I find very high. And it's just the best workout you can get.

As soon as I get time, I want to start to do some fight training. I tried a little boxing once with my personal trainer back in L.A. - it's such a good workout, and it's a good skill to have, especially in my industry, since sometimes you have to do stunts and fight scenes.

No, I've never competed. I did, however, train in a boxing gym with a good coach beginning in 1993. I'd been writing about the sport for a dozen years by then and wanted to know what boxers endured, what it felt like. I was too old to compete when I started, but I sparred enough to get a taste.

Because I used to play a lot of sport, I've always been in decent enough shape. When I used to get asked to do a bit of body work before a photo shoot I'd lie and say, 'Yeah, I'm going to the gym.' I literally never did anything.