I never think about the knockouts. I go into every fight, do my work, and none of that stuff puts pressure on me at all.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
No one ever wants fight of the night. Every fight I've gone in, I want knockout of the night. I want to be in and out quick. Sometimes, these guys just have a lot of grit - they're highly trained, and I just can't get them out of there, so I get fight of the night.
I think everyone has knockout power. I mean, it's the heavyweight division.
I win by submissions, knockouts. There's guys ranked above me, but no one's interested in seeing them fight. They want to see me fight.
This is no game. You get up in there, and you take some punches. You risk your life, and then let me see you talk then. That's why I don't respect people who criticize fighters.
That's the most beautiful thing that I like about boxing: you can take a punch. The biggest thing about taking a punch is your ego reacts and there's no better spiritual lesson than trying to not pay attention to your ego's reaction. That's what takes people out of the fight half the time.
I try to cancel out every possibility of losing the fight, and this runs through my head all day long. I'm seeing myself become smashed in the face, cut, or being submitted or being knocked out in so many different ways all day long.
I will look for the knockout because that's the way I fight.
I'll go for the knockout, and if we have to go 12 rounds, then I'll trust the judges to do their best work, and I will get the victory if I deserve it.
After every fight, I knock myself down. I start from scratch again. I say, 'I'm not as good as I thought.' It makes you work harder. It makes you push harder. It's more than money. It's more than the title. It's my pride, and it can be scary thinking about it. I could lose. It's scary.
I've had five submissions in the first round. I have 3, 4, 5 knockouts. I've had decisions. I've had grinding fights.