Anthony Yarde

“I could fight for a world title and win it, but it is about getting to that stage and staying there.”

“They say aim for the stars, but I want to aim beyond the stars.”

“You need to mourn, you need to be upset, to give yourself time to replenish. Then you use it all as fuel to get stronger.”

“With my dad it was a short time between him getting ill and passing. He got ill first and he took a turn for the worse very quickly, within days.”

“I've got a lot of criticism for not taking domestic fights but I've got my own strategy.”

“I know that you need to be entertaining at the beginning to get people interested, and what interests people is knockouts and excitement.”

“Idras Elba was from Forest Gate - where I am from - there are a lot of great people around if they can be given a chance or have the belief.”

“I doubt Picasso ever painted a picture in an hour, he took his time, looked at every detail and made sure it was perfect.”

“I never shy away from my childhood and where I was raised because it made me who I am today.”

“It doesn't matter about the man behind the belt. For me, it's about the title.”

“I've always wanted to be the strongest in my school, in my class, everywhere. I don't care if I'm in year seven, I wanted to be the strongest in the school.”

“I study Floyd Mayweather, Mike Tyson, Roy Jones Jr and Sugar Ray Leonard.”

“I remember when I used to go to York Hall and just watch, and I'd be like 'how are these people doing it.' Even though I was an amateur boxer at the time, I was like 'how are these guys fighting professionally in this arena?'”

“I have learned in boxing to separate emotion from your job and the time in the ring. When it comes to anything that causes an emotional trigger I try to clear my head.”

“I love pizza, I love Chinese food, Caribbean food, I love Italian.”

“I was offered the Kovalev fight in 2018 but my manager and promoter agreed it wasn't the right time for me to be challenging for a world title then. I needed a few more tuneup fights, learning fights, and I'm fine with that.”

“People talk about world title offers, but boxing is not a sprint, it's a marathon.”

“I used to imitate Stone Cold Steve Austin. Identical. I literally made my own waistcoat like Stone Cold, put a little '3:16' I cut out of newspapers for it.”

“I believe whatever you put in your mind is going to happen.”

“I am not looking at Dec Spelman as if he is a fighter I can just walk through. I don't go out looking for knockouts.”