Hunter S. Thompson Quotes

When I structured my career, I looked at Muhammad Ali, which is my all-time favorite and an idol of mine, and what he has done for this sport. He was a real-life hero.

Ali was a legend of our sport. For me as a kid, he inspired me to represent myself like a champion in and out of the ring.

You get these moments in the ring that live forever. That's what Muhammad Ali accomplished, and I hope that I have, too.

Essentially, my hero-role model is Muhammad Ali, because when I watched this one fight of his with my dad when I was a kid, and I watched him not go down... I think him just taking a lot of blows and not going down, it was so moving.

Muhammad Ali meant everything to me. He inspired me to box after watching re-runs of him winning a gold medal in the Olympics and being a world champion.

The great Muhammad Ali used to have that phrase where he would say: 'Rumble young man, rumble' and 'I'm so pretty I'm ready to rumble.' I kind of just fine tuned it to 'Let's get ready to rumble.'

My idol, Muhammad Ali, got beat when nobody thought he would, and he came back and back to beat Joe Frazier.

I respect Muhammad Ali... he was the greatest, he was the best.

When I'm done, I want to be known as the fighter that everybody wishes they could've seen live.

I don't mind people want to think Muhammad is the greatest fighter around. Everybody wants to make him great because of his mouth, that he was the best. He was good, but that doesn't make him great. I proved that.

Joe Frazier was the epitome of a champion. I mean, here is a guy who was total old school, blue collar, who would fight anybody. You know, he didn't tell you he was the best fighter pound for pound.

I was a daredevil before, and after I lost my sight I was the same. I loved riding bikes, scooters and horses. I even learned to box. Muhammad Ali is my hero.

Muhammad Ali was the kind of guy you either loved or hated, but you wanted to see him. I happen to really love him. He brought boxing to another level and always made you laugh.

Muhammad Ali was a god, an idol and an icon. He was boxing. Any kid that had the opportunity to talk to Ali, to get advice from Muhammad Ali, was privileged. He's always given me time to ask questions, although I was so in awe that I didn't ask questions.

There'll never be another Muhammad Ali. He was a superstar. And although he has gone, his legacy will live on for what he has done for sport and humanity.

No one beat Michael Jordan. No one. You could say a lot of different things, but the man was unstoppable. He was unstoppable. And I will continue to say that.

In my prime, I was the ruler. Simple as that. I understand there's a lot of great fighters who've followed me already since I was the champ - and I hope there's another who comes along does even better because want to see that - but I haven't seen anyone do what I did yet.

That's one of my idols, I really look up to Pacquiao. This guy is everything I would want to be.

When I was young, I used to watch videos of Ali boxing, with my dad. It set me on the road. I wanted to be like Ali. I wanted to have my own Nicki shuffle and everything.

Tyson is a lot better than I thought, a lot better. People can talk about Spinks all they want... Tyson is the true champion.

Viktor Postol is a great champion and he was dodged for a reason, but I ain't the type to duck and dodge anyone.

I'm the guy who has everything it takes to be heavyweight champion of the world. It's not just about being great inside the ring: it's about being able to do great things outside of the ring. Not everyone has that. I love to be out there with the people.

Conor McGregor has been a tremendous inspiration to me.

I just want to be remembered as one of the toughest champions with his own attitude.

My sister is an amazing champion; she's the Fearless Champion, and I couldn't be more proud to be by her side.