TODAY you’re recognised as one of the finest of all heavyweights. How essential was that first defeat, by Oliver McCall in 1994, towards the process of you realising your potential?
If I’d never lost, I’d never have known how great I was. That fight took off that barrier that I was untouchable, and it made people think there was a chink in my armour, so it just made me work harder.
[Losing] was an error on my part – overextending. I wanted to reach him with my right hand too much.
It was that defeat that led to you working under Manny Steward. How much do you owe your success to him?
Manny was a great trainer – a trainer of champions. He definitely helped my career; the technical side and how important that was. Being a “pugilist specialist” was very important to me. Showing people I can’t just knock people out, but I can box as well. It’s like going through the 36 Chambers – I completed it.
What I learned is when Manny speaks, I can actually do. Breaking down the information that he gave to me, I was able to do that in a lot of my fights. So, the communication between me and him was great. In the corner, or even when we studied our opponents, Manny would look at him first, I would look at him first, then we’d come back
