I don't want to say 'grateful.' I don't want to sound like I'm just coming for the opportunity and to say I boxed in front of this many people at AT&T Stadium. I'm coming there to win and bring the title back home.

I won't watch that Amir fight from now until I fight Alvarez. I'm not a blown up 147 or a Miguel Cotto. I'm a big 154 lb., and I'm coming of age and coming to win.

Growing up with my brothers all boxing has stood me in good stead for nights like these. You should have seen some the fights we used to have in our front room.

Canelo's going to have his moments. I'm not saying he's not. But I'm going to have my moments. It will come down to who can finish off their moments and finish the fight the best.

A lot of the major players in the 1960s were the same as the 1940s and 1950s - Hitchen's 'Sleep with Slander.' Armstong's 'Lemon in the Basket,' which is a fusion of the political assassination thriller and a family drama. And Hughes's 'The Expendable Man.'

When I was 12 years old, I went to Natchitoches, La.; it was summer vacation with my family. We visited a plantation, Melrose. And I met an Afro-American woman who was a painter. I already had some idea of what I wanted to do in life, and one of the things that interested me was painting.

I was born in a big city - Ivano-Frankivsk in Ukraine - but when I was a child, my father moved us back to his homeland in Minsk.

My family and I moved at least six times before I graduated high school. I was fortunate to have a large family network that combined their resources to help me accomplish my goals - but not everyone may be as lucky.