The name Muhammad is the most common name in the world. In all the countries around the world - Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon - there are more Muhammads than anything else. When I joined the Nation of Islam and became a Muslim, they gave me the most famous name because I was the champ.
People try to live vicariously through fighters, but it's one-on-one; it's primal. There's no other feeling like it. The problem for me was accepting it - that nothing compares to being champ.
For your friends and family, you are always a champion, but for the media and sponsors, not until you show a spark. Making a champ is more important than celebrating one. I want to be there for youngsters and help them do their best.
To be a champ you have to believe in yourself when no one else will.
I want to be like the athletes who seem stuck in time. When you see them at 50, you say they probably can still run like a champ.
I was an avid swimmer and was state champ at age 12.
My dad always said, 'Champ, the measure of a man is not how often he is knocked down, but how quickly he gets up.'
Gymnastics is my whole life, and I dream of going to the Olympics and being a world champ.
It just meant a lot because it's something I've always wanted to do. I've always wanted to be a Senior National Champ. I was Junior National Champ in 2002, so now to be the senior champ is great.
Joe Frazier's life didn't start with Ali. I was a Golden Gloves champ. Gold medal in Tokyo '64. Heavyweight champion of the world long before I fought Ali in the Garden.