"I was born in Bohol, Philippines. My mother was a teacher, my father was in the military. I had my share of poverty. Then my father petitioned and got us to the United States, I think I was 10 or nine years old. The way life was changed.
"I was a weakling child. I was always sick. My father could never have thought of me fighting. I started boxing because it was something my family was really into. My first fight, my father trained me for 45 days. 11 years old. Getting bullied. Always being made fun of. Walking in the ring, I literally pissed in my pants, I was so scared.
"There's time when you're so focused, your senses are heightened. Everything slows down. You see everything coming at you. You just kind of try to get your body to react, sometimes not fast enough. I think there's never really a perfect fighter. You just want to unlock all your potential, and that's what I'm trying to do. Unlock the potential that God has given me.
"I wanna hurt people inside the ring, but outside the ring, you learn to switch it off, I guess. But inside the ring, I've learned to go and be vicious.
"I do have fun, especially now. Now that I have that confidence that this is what I want to do. This is where I belong. I wanna fight the best. The best in every division that I go to. I wanna move up to weight because I'm too big for the little weights now. But the best in that division, whoever that is.
"I'm thankful that somehow I was inspired to be where I'm at. I know that little kid out there who gets bullied, who thinks he's nothing, or who was told he's nothing, can be something. I could never have written a much finer story than what I've been through, hardship and all. It makes you stronger.
"I still wanna fight. I still wanna win and see how far I can go. Because at the end of it all, wow..."