There are times and places for tune-ups and stay-busy fights.

I do feel at times like I'm always proving myself. But I also feel that I'm proven. I've proven I can get to the mountaintop.

Did I have rough days? Days I didn't want to train? Days I thought my career would never get back off the ground and possibly be over? Absolutely.

More time than not, athletes, specifically fighters, have a 15 or 20-year career, and unfortunately, we end up right where we started when it's over. All we have is maybe a round of applause when we walk in a room - Hey, there's the champ! That's great; I want that, but I've got to have something tangible to show for it, too.

Look at the plight of a devotee. One cannot even use the name of his favourite God. What sort of democracy is this?

In Baltimore, I was walking with a friend who was playing at a pub he kept referring to as the Horse. But when I saw the sign 'The Horse You Came In On' - I thought, 'My God.' I had no intention of ever setting a Jury novel in the U.S., but when I saw that, I thought, 'That's it.' The names are very important.

Without prayer, without faith in the Almighty, the civil rights movement would have been like a bird without wings.

We have the promise of God's being our God, and of the blessing by Christ for ourselves, as we are Abraham's seed, yet take the whole promise collectively made to him and us.