I tried to do the impossible on paper -- beat the middleweight champ coming up from 130 pounds, |
I tried to do the impossible on paper -- beat the middleweight champ coming up from 130 pounds. |
I want to change the way boxing is structured. There is no structure. |
I was seventeen when my mother passed away, ... I was heartbroken. Nothing mattered to me anymore. I thought seriously about not finishing high school, even of dropping out of boxing. Not one day passes that I don't think about my mother. And to be honest, there are still times when it's a lonely world without her. But I feel that I was blessed to have her in my life, and I believe she's still looking out for me. |
I would have loved to have met Elvis Presley, ... He was the King. It's very interesting to me; the way he grew up, the demons he battled, how he handled the pressure and how, after a while, it became a burden he couldn't carry. |
I'll go support it. Why not? If it's a good movie, I'm there. If he couldn't win an Oscar when we fought, maybe he'll win an Oscar outside the ring. |
I've grown up, ... I'm less naive than before. I stopped the party scene a long time ago and started spending more time with family and real friends. I'm not perfect. Sometimes, I think about what I would say if I could talk to my mother again. First, I'd get off my chest the mistakes and bad decisions I've made. I'm married now with a wonderful wife. We're expecting a baby boy in December. I'm doing LaMaze classes and experiencing morning sickness with her. As a father, I'm going to be there every day I possibly can. But I had two children out-of-wedlock, not with my wife, before I was married. They're beautiful children; I adore them. But I grew up with a solid family, and Jacob and Atiana [ages 7 and 6] are entitled to that too. I try to be a good father to them, but it's not the same and there were other times when my head was turned by fame and fortune. Maybe the best way to say it is that I've made mistakes in my life, but they were innocent mistakes and I've grown from them. |
I've learned to not take media criticism personally, ... Seven or eight years ago, I would have said 'I hate the media; there are people in it who are always bashing me.' Now I understand that, when someone writes something negative about me, it's part of the game. Media criticism will destroy you if you take it personally, so now I play with it. I stay away from politics. Some people criticize me for that, but it's a choice I've made. I have my views, but politics can be very sensitive. I've struggled so hard to get fans and people behind me for what I want to accomplish that it would be a mistake to support one party publicly and have the other party against me. |
I've said for years, ... that my biggest heroes are school teachers. A good school teacher is like another parent. |
It doesn't get any bigger than that. |
It was a great shot, a great left hook. |
It's exciting to be contributing to a project that pushes the popularity of boxing to a new level and to a new audience. EA SPORTS Fight Night Round 3 is so realistic anyone can pick up the game and learn about the actual sport while having a fun time doing it. The visuals in the game are so amazing. You can actually see the emotions on my face change throughout the round. |
It's the TV coverage, the exposure,'' Calabrese said. |
It's the way I went out in my last fight. I know he was a bigger guy, but I just have to go out a winner. And prove to prove to myself I have what it takes to come out of this game as a champion. That's what I have to prove to myself. |
Lose this fight and you'll be fighting on ESPN on Friday nights. |