PEOPLE are concerned about me making a comeback and I understand that. But I have to tell them I am doing it the right way and I am doing it for the right reasons.
If you look back in history from Joe Louis to Sugar Ray Robinson to Sugar Ray Leonard to George Foreman, there have always been negative reactions. But look at all of those comebacks and they come down to one factor: Money. I am not doing this for the money.
I make a six-figure salary, I am financially comfortable. I am going into this with my mind focused without worrying about the money. Each time I have come back before it has been for financial gain but right now, I am in a great place, I am not under the gun, and I am doing this because I believe.
This isn?t based on desperation. I am taking my time, I am doing it right. I will not fight until I am in exceptional shape because, even though I am 40 in December, there is no need to rush. And even at 39, I am younger than Vitali Klitschko.
I have only had three wars in my career. The first was against George Foreman, there was one against Frans Botha, and then the fight with Vitali ? which was only tough because I was reduced to fighting with one arm from the first round to the last.
Vitali and his brother Wladimir came to the hospital to visit me after the fight and they saw the state of my arm. Vitali had a look of amazement that said ?Wow?, he asked when it happened and when I told him it was the first round he knew the fight would have been different.
