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His last-ever interviews before he spents the rest of his life with God, he drops all modesty and tells it like it is!
On Amir Khan
'I fought a world prospect in my first year and beat him in seven rounds when I'd never really been beyond one or two rounds in my life. I don't know if Amir's close to fighting a British prospect yet and he's been in it for three years. So it's still not possible to say mate, but I wish him all the best and you'll just have to wait and see.
'After three years I was fighting (Iran) Barkley of all people, he was so ugly tears wouldn't run down his face and he'd sparked Tommy Hearns and had the pound-for-pound fighter running away all night. I went into his backyard and sparked him in a round. So there you go mate.'
On pay-per-view
'Listen, mate, I'm telling you. If the Watson and McClellan and the Barkley and Eubank fights were all on pay-per-view, I'd have made 100 million quid!'
On drawing power
'Me and Mike Tyson are the biggest draws in boxing since 1987. Why? Because you knew what you got with us - X-rated violence. Win, lose or draw, you were getting X-rated violence.'
On being No.1.
'When I won my super middleweight title - with Italian fan's spit all over me and my opponent's blood all over me - I called for Barkley and I called for Eubank and they didn't want to know. And there was Michael Nunn, and he ends up losing on my undercard. Then they unleash the mini-Mike Tyson on me. The guy nobody wanted to fight, the guy who had everyone running scared. They unleashed him on me.
'Listen, mate, I worked my backside off all my life to be world champion and I always dreamed of defending it in England when Eubank came along and buggered it up for me. This was five years on. And I'd already been Gerald McClellan! Before the Watson fight, I was Gerald McClellan! I'd seen all sides of each coin and there was only going to be one winner that night, mate. And you know what? I'm glad I kept the title in England and defended it at Wembley Stadium and all that.
'In the army, if your No.2., you're treated just like No.200. You're treated like crap on the floor. For a schoolyard bully, it's demoralising. I had to be No.1. in the army, and doing that for five years it made me want to be No.1. in boxing, and I was No.1. in boxing! Nobody came up faster, nobody came back from a loss like that to win a world title the next year, everyone said Nunn was the best but he ran away from Barkley for 12 rounds and I sparked him in one, and we all know the WBA belt is No.2. and Bob Arum is No.2.
'Let me tell you a little story. My big brother, Andy, was the hardest kid around. He was well hard. He was street. He was king of the tough guys in Ilford. I loved him far more than I've ever loved anyone, bar Jesus Christ. When he died, all I ever wanted to be was king of the tough guys to do Andy proud. The Gerald McClellan fight was just the cherry on the top.'
'I fought a world prospect in my first year and beat him in seven rounds when I'd never really been beyond one or two rounds in my life. I don't know if Amir's close to fighting a British prospect yet and he's been in it for three years. So it's still not possible to say mate, but I wish him all the best and you'll just have to wait and see.
'After three years I was fighting (Iran) Barkley of all people, he was so ugly tears wouldn't run down his face and he'd sparked Tommy Hearns and had the pound-for-pound fighter running away all night. I went into his backyard and sparked him in a round. So there you go mate.'
On pay-per-view
'Listen, mate, I'm telling you. If the Watson and McClellan and the Barkley and Eubank fights were all on pay-per-view, I'd have made 100 million quid!'
On drawing power
'Me and Mike Tyson are the biggest draws in boxing since 1987. Why? Because you knew what you got with us - X-rated violence. Win, lose or draw, you were getting X-rated violence.'
On being No.1.
'When I won my super middleweight title - with Italian fan's spit all over me and my opponent's blood all over me - I called for Barkley and I called for Eubank and they didn't want to know. And there was Michael Nunn, and he ends up losing on my undercard. Then they unleash the mini-Mike Tyson on me. The guy nobody wanted to fight, the guy who had everyone running scared. They unleashed him on me.
'Listen, mate, I worked my backside off all my life to be world champion and I always dreamed of defending it in England when Eubank came along and buggered it up for me. This was five years on. And I'd already been Gerald McClellan! Before the Watson fight, I was Gerald McClellan! I'd seen all sides of each coin and there was only going to be one winner that night, mate. And you know what? I'm glad I kept the title in England and defended it at Wembley Stadium and all that.
'In the army, if your No.2., you're treated just like No.200. You're treated like crap on the floor. For a schoolyard bully, it's demoralising. I had to be No.1. in the army, and doing that for five years it made me want to be No.1. in boxing, and I was No.1. in boxing! Nobody came up faster, nobody came back from a loss like that to win a world title the next year, everyone said Nunn was the best but he ran away from Barkley for 12 rounds and I sparked him in one, and we all know the WBA belt is No.2. and Bob Arum is No.2.
'Let me tell you a little story. My big brother, Andy, was the hardest kid around. He was well hard. He was street. He was king of the tough guys in Ilford. I loved him far more than I've ever loved anyone, bar Jesus Christ. When he died, all I ever wanted to be was king of the tough guys to do Andy proud. The Gerald McClellan fight was just the cherry on the top.'
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