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On whether he'd be a boxer if he had his time over.
"As to whether I would become a boxer if I had my life to live over again, it would be a question of choice.
"I myself hadn't a choice. I had it tough, very tough, and it's all in my book.
"I was once part of a professional gang of thieves who made thousands of pounds from daily crime sprees. I was making £180 a day when the average wage was £60 a week.
"The gangs were so well off we even hired taxis to shoplifting jobs.
"If there was an easier way to make money, I would have done it but there wasn't. I had no choice. The instinct is to survive.
"Maybe if I'd had a choice, I might not have become a boxer. Who knows?
"But the truth is I fell in love with boxing and never fell out of love with the art of boxing."
On biting an opponent.
"Yes that's true. When I was an amateur I bit someone and I have been ashamed of that ever since.
"But it taught me to be a man - to lose with your head held high and your eyes wide open, with the grace of an adult and not like a child.
"If you're taking a beating, stay there and take it. Even if you are projecting your tiredness, it's nothing compared to turning your back or quitting."
On boxing being a 'mug's game'.
"It is noble to box but it's a fact that 99.9 per cent of boxers get disfigured, used, abused, manipulated and ultimately discarded.
"Yet 100 per cent of boxers are the single most important element of any fight they compete in. They are the nucleus.
"The problem is that promoters and managers will have the boxer believe that he is working for them because they pull the strings in the fight business. This is totally wrong.
"The boxer employs the promoters and managers. He is their boss because without the boxer there would be no fight business.
"I've always been outspoken and still am. It's my nature. I tell it as it is.
"When I was being particularly outspoken, especially in the earlier days before I was champion, my trainer used to say, 'Be careful, Chris, if you talk, they will have you bumped off.'
"By 'bumped off', he meant that arrangements would be made so that I would lose a bout.
"So, am I saying that some fights are fixed? Absolutely. If you ask for too much money or you are behaving like a prima donna, they will have you 'bumped off.'
"Judges can be indirectly influenced by nice hotel rooms, champagne, women, backhanders and the like.
"The fact is that if you suspect arrangements have been made against you, then you simply have to knock the man out before the end of the fight."
On Steve Collins cheating.
"I was there to win by way of art and points but he made me dislike him immensely so I lost my focus.
"When someone makes you dislike them immensely they have done the job.
"It wasn't just below the belt. It lost me my first professional fight and first fight in 10 years and three days, since I bit my opponent in the Golden Gloves.
"Other people I fought tried to do that, but none succeeded - none brought racial slur into it.
"Since that day I lost in the Golden Gloves I promised myself I'd always win or lose with integrity. Infact, integrity became the cornerstone of my life.
"I don't know how Steve Collins could win like he did. It was the ultimate example of lacking integrity to win.
(He said he was stunned when Collins questioned his loyalty to his African roots before their clash in Millstreet)
"Steve Collins said to me 'you talk like an Englishman, you wear a monocle like an Englishman and carry a cane like an Englishman. I'm Irish and I have done lots for the Irish people.
"What have you done for the African people?'
"Collins lacked ability and personality and talent but he made up for it tenfold with strength of character.
"No one was clever enough to get inside my head but Steve did.
"He struck a chord in me. I've heard fighters talking about my mother and saying worse things but they were hollow.
"He wasn't being racist but he aroused the racist who was listening to the conversation.
"This was the business of one-upmanship. I was always the calmest person in the arena but Steve got to me.
"I believe he managed to question my whole identity when he came out with the statement.
"I was trying to dispel all that rubbish. He put the onus on me to answer that question.
"It was a very powerful question. He lit that fire and walked away. He went to the core of what I have to deal with in regards to being a black man in Britain.
"I am a descendant of a slave. I don't see colour in people. I see good people and bad people. I've been to Africa and I've done charity work. I live here in the United Kingdom. I do charity work here
"He was playing on the way I dressed and the way I spoke the Queen's English and the affections I carry.
"Steve was very emotionally intelligent but in a combative way. I would never use tactics like that."
On Collins being the better man in their return.
"The second fight six months later, again in Cork, was much different even though I lost again.
"He broke me mentally with a maniacal resolve on the night - having seemed, perhaps purposefully, somewhat uncertain in press conferences - rather than a form of racism before the night and beat me fairly and squarely on points, unlike his underhand first victory over me.
"I just could not wrestle the crown away from him.
"Steve was a good fighter and I hope we are still good friends."
On Floyd Mayweather.
"People keep asking me about this kid. He's at the stage of his career now as I was when I was preparing to fight Henry Wharton.
"The Sky deal was the big contract I'd been working for all those years in the gym.
"It was a dream to perform and have a platform in the homeland of my hero Nelson Mandela.
"Wharton was orthodox - he wasn't southpaw, he was a straight ahead slugger and he was strong.
"I saw it as the perfect opportunity to showcase everything I'd learned in the gym over the years.
"But young Hatton is more dynamic than Wharton. He has good reflexes and very good technique with the body shots. He's known to set a ferocious pace.
"This is a great opportunity for Mayweather to let everything go because he could lose and that would allow him to come back and acquire greatness!"
"As to whether I would become a boxer if I had my life to live over again, it would be a question of choice.
"I myself hadn't a choice. I had it tough, very tough, and it's all in my book.
"I was once part of a professional gang of thieves who made thousands of pounds from daily crime sprees. I was making £180 a day when the average wage was £60 a week.
"The gangs were so well off we even hired taxis to shoplifting jobs.
"If there was an easier way to make money, I would have done it but there wasn't. I had no choice. The instinct is to survive.
"Maybe if I'd had a choice, I might not have become a boxer. Who knows?
"But the truth is I fell in love with boxing and never fell out of love with the art of boxing."
On biting an opponent.
"Yes that's true. When I was an amateur I bit someone and I have been ashamed of that ever since.
"But it taught me to be a man - to lose with your head held high and your eyes wide open, with the grace of an adult and not like a child.
"If you're taking a beating, stay there and take it. Even if you are projecting your tiredness, it's nothing compared to turning your back or quitting."
On boxing being a 'mug's game'.
"It is noble to box but it's a fact that 99.9 per cent of boxers get disfigured, used, abused, manipulated and ultimately discarded.
"Yet 100 per cent of boxers are the single most important element of any fight they compete in. They are the nucleus.
"The problem is that promoters and managers will have the boxer believe that he is working for them because they pull the strings in the fight business. This is totally wrong.
"The boxer employs the promoters and managers. He is their boss because without the boxer there would be no fight business.
"I've always been outspoken and still am. It's my nature. I tell it as it is.
"When I was being particularly outspoken, especially in the earlier days before I was champion, my trainer used to say, 'Be careful, Chris, if you talk, they will have you bumped off.'
"By 'bumped off', he meant that arrangements would be made so that I would lose a bout.
"So, am I saying that some fights are fixed? Absolutely. If you ask for too much money or you are behaving like a prima donna, they will have you 'bumped off.'
"Judges can be indirectly influenced by nice hotel rooms, champagne, women, backhanders and the like.
"The fact is that if you suspect arrangements have been made against you, then you simply have to knock the man out before the end of the fight."
On Steve Collins cheating.
"I was there to win by way of art and points but he made me dislike him immensely so I lost my focus.
"When someone makes you dislike them immensely they have done the job.
"It wasn't just below the belt. It lost me my first professional fight and first fight in 10 years and three days, since I bit my opponent in the Golden Gloves.
"Other people I fought tried to do that, but none succeeded - none brought racial slur into it.
"Since that day I lost in the Golden Gloves I promised myself I'd always win or lose with integrity. Infact, integrity became the cornerstone of my life.
"I don't know how Steve Collins could win like he did. It was the ultimate example of lacking integrity to win.
(He said he was stunned when Collins questioned his loyalty to his African roots before their clash in Millstreet)
"Steve Collins said to me 'you talk like an Englishman, you wear a monocle like an Englishman and carry a cane like an Englishman. I'm Irish and I have done lots for the Irish people.
"What have you done for the African people?'
"Collins lacked ability and personality and talent but he made up for it tenfold with strength of character.
"No one was clever enough to get inside my head but Steve did.
"He struck a chord in me. I've heard fighters talking about my mother and saying worse things but they were hollow.
"He wasn't being racist but he aroused the racist who was listening to the conversation.
"This was the business of one-upmanship. I was always the calmest person in the arena but Steve got to me.
"I believe he managed to question my whole identity when he came out with the statement.
"I was trying to dispel all that rubbish. He put the onus on me to answer that question.
"It was a very powerful question. He lit that fire and walked away. He went to the core of what I have to deal with in regards to being a black man in Britain.
"I am a descendant of a slave. I don't see colour in people. I see good people and bad people. I've been to Africa and I've done charity work. I live here in the United Kingdom. I do charity work here
"He was playing on the way I dressed and the way I spoke the Queen's English and the affections I carry.
"Steve was very emotionally intelligent but in a combative way. I would never use tactics like that."
On Collins being the better man in their return.
"The second fight six months later, again in Cork, was much different even though I lost again.
"He broke me mentally with a maniacal resolve on the night - having seemed, perhaps purposefully, somewhat uncertain in press conferences - rather than a form of racism before the night and beat me fairly and squarely on points, unlike his underhand first victory over me.
"I just could not wrestle the crown away from him.
"Steve was a good fighter and I hope we are still good friends."
On Floyd Mayweather.
"People keep asking me about this kid. He's at the stage of his career now as I was when I was preparing to fight Henry Wharton.
"The Sky deal was the big contract I'd been working for all those years in the gym.
"It was a dream to perform and have a platform in the homeland of my hero Nelson Mandela.
"Wharton was orthodox - he wasn't southpaw, he was a straight ahead slugger and he was strong.
"I saw it as the perfect opportunity to showcase everything I'd learned in the gym over the years.
"But young Hatton is more dynamic than Wharton. He has good reflexes and very good technique with the body shots. He's known to set a ferocious pace.
"This is a great opportunity for Mayweather to let everything go because he could lose and that would allow him to come back and acquire greatness!"
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