George Foreman

I tell my sons all the time, 'The most important thing in your life is fitness,' but a lot of fighters go overboard. ”

I feel that I had been rescued from the gutter by America. One day I was under the gutter, chased by police, thinking dogs were going to get me. I laid there listening to the dogs and the gutter. The next day, there I am standing on the Olympic platform, and you hear the anthem. I was proud. ”

That's my gift. I let that negativity roll off me like water off a duck's back. If it's not positive, I didn't hear it. If you can overcome that, fights are easy. ”

When it gets to the part in life where you're more afraid of what your wife is going to do to you than if you box, say, Mike Tyson, you've got to get a new profession. You don't get to be a family. I know why boxers never quit, some of them. They don't have wives. ”

When I step into the ring with someone, this has got to be their vacation spot, but my home turf. So I go the opposite side seven rounds doing the same thing. Skipping, skipping, skipping. Then I go seven rounds going both ways. Skip to the left, skip to the right. ”

The Olympic Gold medal in 1968 was definitely the highest moment of my career. It was a dream come true. I was a 19-year-old boy, and it was just amazing to be standing on top of the podium and hearing the National Anthem in the background. ”

I wanted to be the best street fighter in Houston, Texas. And I thought if I got a trophy or two, I'd go back home, and everyone would be afraid of me. I had one fight in '67, the first one. In '68 of October, I was an Olympic gold-medalist, a dream come true, with a total of 25 boxing matches. ”

Forgiveness is that subtle thread that binds both love and friendship. Without forgiveness, you may not even have a child one day. ”

The greatest asset, even in this country, is not oil and gas. It's integrity. Everyone is searching for it, asking, 'Who can I do business with that I can trust?' ”

Muhammad Ali is a true hero, and the fact there's something wrong with him is his badge of valour. He's a great man. ”