Oleksandr Usyk Quotes

"If you want to be great in what you're doing, you really need to limit yourself, so I consider my life as the life of a monk."

"The team I support is Manchester City. And that's because a friend of mine, who I visited when I was in England, Alexander Zinchenko, plays for them."

"England is a lucky country for me, and fortune comes only with hard work."

"I'm not a monster; I'm a white rabbit."

"I may sound a bit crazy, but I get really excited with all the enormous hard work that I put myself through every day."

"If you put a person in a training gym made out of entire gold, it doesn't guarantee that this person will become a champion. But if you put a person in the basement, then there is a high chance that he will get out of this basement as a champion."

"I need to become the undisputed heavyweight champion. As soon as I become, I will turn back and say, 'Guys, thank you very much for your participation. Thanks everyone.' I will thank the Lord, I will go to the ground and say farewell, and I will go home."

"If people become kinder to each other and begin to forgive some bitterness, if they begin to love their neighbor as the Most High loves us, then I am for it."

"We need to put goals in front of us and move towards them."

"The biggest motivation for me is my desire to be the best."

"No-one but me gets into my head."

"I'm very excited to fight for the first time in the United States and on HBO."

"I am interested in the heavyweight division, and I'll tell you why: Many experts say that I shouldn't go up in weight, that I'm too small for it. My size does not allow me to be victorious in this division."

"Physical pain is temporary."

"My mom said to me: 'Sonny, you need to study English.' And I replied to her: 'Mom, I do not need it. I'm going to be horse-boy, would I speak English with horses?' Mom said: 'Darling, you need to.' But I did not listen to my mother."

"A lot of people don't believe in me. They think I'm too small for heavyweight. Just like a lot of people told me long ago that I shouldn't box. That I wasn't going to make it. I just knock my head and say I'm capable. I can do it."

"From the beginning of my career, I wanted to fight in the United States, and now my dreams come true."

"I'm not exactly a huge Beatles fan, but when I have a chance to visit a legendary place like the Beatles museum, I definitely use it. It's historic."

"I absolutely do not divide people into any religions, creeds, political views."

"I had a goal to become the undisputed champion in cruiserweight, and I achieved this goal."

"Wembley was crazy stuff. The songs, the noise... best fans ever. My hair was up all the way."

"I do think Briedis will be the toughest opponent I have faced in my professional career. He is 23-0, he's a cruiserweight, and he can punch, and that makes anyone dangerous."

"I became the European amateur champion in Liverpool back in 2008. I visited the Beatles museum, and after the final, I went to a drum and bass disco."

"I picked Tony Bellew because he is the man that takes the biggest challenges. He is not the usual type of fighter that will come, see how hard it is, and quit. He will come to fight until the end. These are the kind of fights that the world wants to see."

"What I do and what I love, I don't betray that. Sometimes people say you have to tolerate it. No, you have to do what you think necessary, what your heart tells you, and go where the Almighty leads you."

"It doesn't matter which city, which country my opponent is from - and I am not worried about fighting in Moscow."

"Becoming the heavyweight champion is not what I'm dreaming of - it's my goal. It's what I'm planning to do."

"The most that hurts is I couldn't see my kids growing up. They grow and go. Most of the time, I'm in training camps. I couldn't see that happening. This hurts me."

"I don't want to work with a person just to have someone there."

"I love California. The weather is fantastic."