Quotes from Tommy Morrison

I would walk into a room, and people would be like, 'Hide the children. Here comes the guy with AIDS.' That's very demeaning, and it really hurts your spirit.

Something that comes along with age causes you to simmer a bit.

I knew the HIV virus was something anyone could get but also believed the chances were very slim... I honestly believed I had a better chance of winning the lottery than contracting this disease. I have never been so wrong in my life.

Boxing is a family tradition. The last five generations down to my dad have been fighters.

There's nothing more intimidating than crawling into a ring.

To all my young fans out there, I ask that you no longer consider me a role model. See me as an individual who had the opportunity to be a role model but blew it. Blew it with irresponsible, irrational, immature decisions.

My life has been very much a roller coaster ride. Not just the boxing part, not just the acting part, just my childhood, what I was into at a young age and the things I was exposed to, it's just very abnormal.

I didn't have the greatest equipment or the greatest facilities. I would see people with new shoes and better cars. I knew what I wanted and what I had to do to get what I wanted. I became a very Spartan person at a young age because of that.

I'm going to bring the championship home to Kansas City.

There's a family tradition of fighting in the Kansas City Golden Gloves. My older brother, Tim, did, and so did my father's two youngest brothers, Trent and Troy. They all won the Golden Gloves. So when my mother asked me to keep the tradition going, I did.

As a white fighter, you get twice as much criticism.

It's a big move from the 'Tough Man' circuit to professional boxing. When I turned pro, I had to play catch-up and was fighting almost twice a month until I had more than 20 fights under my belt.

I realize that there's a whole generation of kids out there like me who are totally disregarding the moral values taught to us by our parents.

I just turned 27 years old, and there are mornings where my knees and ankles really hurt. I hurt all over. I would hate to be me when I'm 35 years old. I'll be a basket case, but I will have a lot of memories.

I like fighting people that scare me a little bit. People that scare me seem to motivate me, and when you motivate me, you get the best performance out of me.

I am not a big fan of Mike Tyson. I almost idolized him for what he did in the ring - he was such a great fighter. But his behavior out of the ring... he needed to realize he was in the public eye, and there is a responsibility.

I've had a lot of people tell me I'm faster than Tyson.

If I was black or Hispanic, I wouldn't get any criticism. Because I'm white, people expect so much more out of me. That's a little unfair, but life isn't fair.

The heavyweight division needs me.

Everyone wants to see the heavyweight division unified. It'll happen.

HIV changed my life, but I think I've accepted it. I don't even think about it unless someone brings it up.

If I met a girl, I'd tell her straight up, 'I might run into someone else I want to go out with; don't be offended.' Was that acceptable to them? It had to be. There were enough girls. They were expendable.

I didn't live in L.A. I lived in Oklahoma, and I liked to do normal things with normal people.

I'm happy in Oklahoma. It's closer to family. Nobody expects anything of you there.