Michael Chiesa Quotes

I'm a professional; I'd never fight against Mirko or anyone else not being prepared.

I try to perform honestly during the fight, and I always remember that I'm a representative of Russia. I try not to bring any aggression. Just honesty.

Prize-Fighting is not the aim of boxing. This noble exercise ought not to be judged by the dishonesty or the low lives of too many of its professional followers. Let it stand alone, an athletic practice, on the same footing as boating or football.

When people ask me about what I learned from martial arts, I don't talk about favorite punches or kicks, or about fights won or lost. I talk about learning self-discipline, about ethics and manners and benevolence and fairness.

I am ready to fight according to the rules, and I ask for the opportunity to prove myself.

It is safest to be moderately base - to be flexible in shame, and to be always ready for what is generous, good, and just, when anything is to be gained by virtue.

I have the same malice in my heart as far as the fight game is concerned, but outside the ring, I won't say anything a dignified man won't say.

The moral values I've learnt in my life I've learnt through football.

I think it's safe to say that 'manliness' was a common theme in my upbringing. It was an assumed status, but - and here's the important bit - it was the Rudyard Kipling kind. The emphasis was on gentlemanly conduct, sportsmanship, fairness and stoicism.

Be loyal to those who are loyal to you. And respect everyone, even your enemies and competition.

I love fighting. I want to fight, but there are principles in this game. You've got to have morals. I'm not just going to fight fights to fight to get nowhere.

I gotta respect our sport, my division, and the guys that are fighting in it. That's what I gotta do.

I don't want to talk trash about somebody: I want to prove it inside the cage.

I focus on my opponents the same way whether they are a champion or not.

I respect all my opponents.

When I'm thinking of sports, when I'm thinking of a boy growing up and being a man, I'm thinking of three things - honor, integrity, and toughness.

I'm not going to sidestep anybody, I'm not going to back down from anybody at any weight, and most importantly, I'm not going to pick on a guy who is weaker.

I approach this game with the utmost respect for every player.

Me personally, I can take getting beat, if it's about basketball. But when it gets to the point where you're being personal, and being disrespectful as a man to another man, that's when I have a problem.

I'll fight you, and I'll have respect at the end. If you win, I have respect; if I win, I expect respect, Ray Mercer, man, I don't want to mention this guy's name anymore. He gets no respect from me. He was not professional, and he showed poor sportsmanship.

We respect all our opponents.

I think the boxing game is supposed to be a gentleman's sport.

I have fought fighters in the past who I don't like as people, but you have to block out any type of dislike or hate. Whatever he's done, whatever he's said, you can't be thinking about that. You just have to see him as a man that you have to outpoint, outgame, and beat on the night.

In golf, the player, coach and official are rolled into one, and they overlap completely. Golf really is the best microcosm of life - or at least the way life should be.

I do not think that winning is the most important thing. I think winning is the only thing.