I always wanted to play a boxer because some of my favorite films, as a boy, were those great boxing movies, like 'Raging Bull', 'Rocky', 'The Set Up', 'Fat City and Hard Times'. I just loved those films.

Hard times always lead to something great.

When I wasn't the flavor of the week or month or day, those were hard times.

I love boxing. I really respect the guys and admire the guys who do it. But, I'm very, very happy with my career as an actor. I made the right choice and things are really working out for me right now, but I won't pretend that there isn't a part of me that always secretly wanted to be a boxer.

I wanted Raging Bull. I wanted Casino. I got Rocky and Bullwinkle. But that's OK, because I still get to tell people I've worked with Robert DeNiro.

I wouldn't trade or change a thing, and I've had some hard times.