Quotes from Chris Eubank Sr.

Everything controversial is good for boxing.

I am not a conventional man.

I'll fight anyone I can beat. I'm a businessman first and a boxer second. I'm looking for the readies. The aim is to win at all costs.

When people speak disparagingly about others, they are really damaging themselves.

The people who have done it - I have been in there - a lot of people love boxing but they have not actually been in there, and haven't tasted the bitterness of a beating.

I've tasted the bitter beatings.

Benn was brute force, wasn't he? But he found God when he was 40... and the only reason I beat him, was because I was brought up in the church. It teaches you to be calm to be objective and steady and the reasoning I used beat him - and he found it when he was 40. I didn't change anything: there is only one way, to be calm, gentle and true.

For lunch I like corned beef, white rice and fried onions, which I've eaten for as long as I can remember. My father used to make it; now, no one does it like me.

I'm not bankrupt of fun, life, my dignity, my character, my essence.

I failed my HGV licence three times.

Fortunately, I was technically skilled, so I didn't have to bludgeon people, I didn't have to batter them.

My father never played with me. I can remember my father picking me up - once. I can remember my father telling me behind a closed door that he loved me - once.

My objective as a mentor, as a father, as a manager and as a former participant of the great game of boxing is to protect mine, but also the opponent. Especially if I can see things which I have experienced before.

You aren't going to show me something I haven't seen. Nobody can bring something to me that I don't already know, not in boxing. That's where I've mastered my trade, I can't talk in other fields.

Geezers might say, 'I wouldn't wear make-up even if I was going on TV,' but why not? You'll look better. I can most frankly be called a geezer - I've earned the right to be called a geezer, a proper stand-up guy, that kind of thing - and if I can wear make-up, so can you.'

I probably give 80% more to my children than my father gave to me and still it doesn't come up to scratch. I don't feel guilty about it. Do my children love me? I think that is self-evident. Will they have psychological scars? No, because they have a wonderful mummy.

Sometimes you can win by persevering, pushing and pressuring your competition.

If you choose to do something that you know you cannot do, or that is going to be very difficult, then you are a fool!

Broccoli is not as bad as people make out. It might give you wind, but I'd prefer to have wind and have good health. Health is the number one thing on the planet. However, I am quite partial to rum and raisin ice cream.

Talent and skill goes out the window after eight or nine rounds.

What can you say to someone like me? When you've got 19 world championship wins, it's almost like you're cursed because you're too good.

You play football, rugby, tennis. You do not play boxing. When a sportsperson is in a game, when it gets too much, you quit. But in boxing you can't quit. You have to be taken out.

I've always had something much more than money, which is respect. When I was champion, people looked into my heart and some said, 'We may not like Mr Eubank, but we respect him. He fights beyond the call of duty and he never quits.'

Every fighter has a duty to boxing to not bring themselves or the sport into disrepute by foul language or behaviour so that boxing can be seen as a gentleman's sport.