Quotes from Nigel Benn

I learned about fighting from taking on the National Front skinheads outside Ilford Town Hall in the 70s - they were big men and we were 14 or 15-year-old boys.

He is a loudmouth who cannot fight and has made a good living by criticising me. I want to shut Eubank's mouth forever.

If my son rings me and needs help? I'm there. But otherwise? We are really close but I give him breathing space. If he needs me, I'm there for him. It's inevitable that he will lose one day. But it's about how he responds.

I dealt with the tragedies to Gerald McClellan and Michael Watson. I only had peace when I was away training.

No one ever really taught me anything. I am not being disrespectful to my trainers but they just wanted me to go out there and 'get em Nige.'

I had to join the army, because I knew I would be inside or dead otherwise. I needed someone to channel my anger and it worked for me. It was a wake up call and I never looked back.

I saw a lot of my traits in Conor that I didn't like. He was trying to live my old life from a very young age and I didn't like it.

I was always fighting from a young age, in school and everywhere else. I didn't have any fear of anything like that. I could really hurt people.

The 90s for me was the best era for clubbing. I was having a great time working as a DJ, loads of money and travelling the world, but I found that the crowds were getting younger and younger and less appreciative of the soulful, funky music I was playing, so I jacked it in.

I was in a dark place for so many years. There was no joy.

Where I grew up if I swore my dad would knock it out of me. You just never swore.

Sometimes I knocked people out then said: 'Was it the left or the right?' I didn't know! I just had the power.

Boxing has helped millions around the world as a trigger for self belief, identity and connecting. It is therapy for rage.

You know what, when I was a kid I said to myself my skin colour isn't going to stop me achieving what I want regardless of what colour I was, so I don't want these kids to have that mentality.

We lived in Miami, L.A., in Barbados, Jamaica and Hawaii. You can put them all together and they don't add up to Australia, I absolutely love Australia - I feel at home.

My goal in boxing was to be Southern Area champion, might have a shot at the British, might own my own terraced house like my dad. That was my vision.

I cheated on my wife for years. Had children with different mothers.

Carolyne and I were desperate for children of our own and I can't describe the happiness I felt when she became pregnant with twins after IVF treatment.

I look at Mike Tyson as a fighter. He don't go out there to play. He goes out there to hurt because he's in the hurt game. That's what I like about him.

The British press hate a winner who's British. They don't like any British man to have balls as big as a cow's like I have.

My childhood was great. We never had much but we were happy. I was a handful, though, and I did some naughty things.

I did a bit of everything, and I was never beaten. I was into Bruce Lee, mate. Oh yeah! I love my combat sports.

The only time I really enjoyed myself before was when I was training. Besides that, everything else was an absolute nightmare. It was all about self.

The kind of life I led really affected my family.