"I know the craft full-circle. I consider myself to be a highly-skilled, puncher boxer. I can execute every shot in the book with textbook technique and I've honed my ring intelligence, I know how to use the ring as well as anyone. Some of my fighting mechanisms are so well-oiled that all I need to do is streamline and apply philosophy to progress." - October 1989
"I'm quite simply the best." - November 1989
"There's not a thing any trainer in the world can teach me." - January 1991
"There's nobody more scientific, nobody understands the art form like I do. I challenge you to find anybody to challenge me." - July 1991
"I'm the grandmaster of the craft." - 1992
What a phoney.
And some people insisted that he was going to 'put it right' and prove himself 'the best' that time around. I wasn't taken in by it. I wanted to believe it, I wanted to believe he could perform like he did against Henry Wharton (when he DID look like simply the best) every time out. But I wasn't taken in and neither were most others.
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