"On Mike’s progress in the short time:
'The boy can do everything a champion is required to do, and if he does everything that he’s capable of doing, I tell you he may go down as one of the greatest fighters of all time…as a professional my judgment of a fighter are detached. I never allow my personal feelings to get involved, no matter how much affection I may have for him, and I can honestly say I have a very deep affection for him, and an admiration, having watched him come from where he was to what he is, because I know what it takes to do what he’s done and what he’s doing. I feel I was a part of it. It’s almost like watching yourself. You never know how much you contributed to it, but the result is there and you like to think you had something to do with it."
