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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 had been in the gym training for many, many years, but I definitely stepped it up when it was time to get into shape to play 'Lights'. I began trying to live the life of a boxer, and that means everything that you would expect.

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.

When I was 15 years old, I left school and became a professional boxer.

In order to understand the mindset of a boxer, I needed to become a boxer myself.

My father was an army champion boxer... in the British army. And so he loved boxing and talked it up as a sport. But then when my brother and I were beating the crap out of each other, he was always trying to tone it down. But I am a fan of boxing.

Boxing has been the most difficult thing I've ever done. The biggest challenge in my life. I was a boxer. That was hard. Everything else is pretty easy.

Boxing gave me a path in life. Because of boxing, I learned what I'm capable of achieving if I put my mind to it and how hard work can and will pay off in the end. It gave me confidence and taught me to face fear straight on and dig down deep when times get tough.

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.

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