How important is writing to you?

This book turned out to be not only another milestone in my career but also in my life. The events that followed after its publication exceeded all expectations. I experienced feelings, events and emotions that when I was writing this book I really couldn't comprehend.

My career came to an end about 20 years ago and with it, as it is, the curtain of the world's applause fell. I never imagined that the publication of this book would be the reason for my name to be so prominently in the limelight again and to experience again to such a palpable degree the admiration and now the respect and esteem of people of all ages from different quarters .

For me, this whole positive turn in my life was a very big surprise that I never expected to live in my 50s, because in no way the reason I wrote this book was related to everything that I experienced in the last months where the book is published. All I wanted was to tell my truth about my passage through this shocking sport called boxing and finally it proved once again that the world loves and appreciates the truth. I wanted to put some things in their place, because I think that boxing is a misunderstood sport and the boxer also has a distorted image in Greek society. Finally, I wanted through this book to finally close the "accounts" that I had left open for years with some people. It was proved through this book that the reader loves and respects the language of truth very much. The word I read in almost all reviews of my book was "true," and I'm proud of that, because that was a commitment for me that I kept from the first page to the last, and the reader picked up on that. After many years of deliberate and absolute silence I said "everything" and it was all surprisingly true. No one expected this book, not even me. And yet it happened.

"These days my book closes one year of publication and the second thousand has been published. [...] But a very important part of this success is certainly due not only to the text, but also to the overall image and setting of the book undertaken by the iWrite editorial team and I feel lucky to have met them on my way and worked with them. "

How did you feel when you published your book?

The moment I held the first copy in my hands was truly momentous. But because I did not expect that it would resonate and that it would receive such positive reviews from journalists and ordinary readers, all I thought at that moment was that I was leaving something for my children and that I was doing my duty in my sport. This book was also a tribute to my coach to whom I dedicated it and for that alone I felt very satisfied. Undoubtedly, whether a book is read by one person or by thousands of readers, after its release it necessarily goes down in history. It's something that stays. This in itself is of great value. The afternoon I received the first thirty copies I had not even decided whether to proceed with reprinting more. The first move was to set aside what I would give to my children but also what my wife and I devoted to each other. I singled out another one for my coach, one for my mother and my father, two or three for some dear and special people to me, and for the rest I didn't know at all what would happen. I left them in a box. Until that time, few people knew about the writing of this book. But as soon as it was learned in the narrow environment, by evening there was not one of the thirty left. That same night, my students who I teach boxing bought it and even more ordered it. At first I thought they took it out of courtesy. But when my student Philip called me the next morning to tell me that he read it all through the night, because he just couldn't put it down, then I thought that maybe after all he likes this book and maybe has something to say.

Why do you think you made the right choice with iWrite.gr?

These days my book closes one year of publication and the second thousand has been published. But for me this book is already considered a success even if it doesn't sell a single copy in the future, because success for me is not only how many people bought a book but mainly what they got from reading it, how much they identified with the author and how much that helped them take a step further in their lives. In this sense, I believe that my book had a great run and spoke to the hearts of those who read it, because many of those who read it tried to contact me afterwards to say "thank you" for what they got from the book, and that's enough for me …

But a very important part of this success is certainly due not only to the text, but also to the overall image and setting of the book undertaken by the iWrite editorial team and I feel lucky to have met them on my way and worked with them. I consider that the contributors of iwrite, Valantis Nagoloudis and Nikolaos Koumartzis, two young people with a vision and a lot of love for what they do, tireless, hard-working, above all honest professionals with an opinion and particularly advanced for Greek standards technical knowledge about the subject of their work that not only kept to the maximum what had been agreed but also offered much more that had not been agreed between us, they gave flesh and bones in the best possible way to the text I had written and created a book that from a technical and graphic point of view would even the biggest publishing houses of our country envied it.

When writing the book I tried several times to imagine the final picture of this undertaking, I confess that the final picture of this book had by no means crossed my mind. My expectations were incomparably lower, because I had never seen a version of such quality and aesthetics before, since it is particularly unusual for Greek standards. These guys mobilized all their passion as well as their knowledge to deliver to me the deluxe edition of a book of high aesthetics that really wins impressions at first glance and compels the reader to pick it up and flip through it.

Because of my status as an Olympian, my book reached the hands of great artists, leading politicians, celebrities and successful journalists who all, as soon as they got their hands on it, leafed through it in awe and expressed the best reviews of the original image and " tasteful setting' of the book. This is certainly not accidental. These children read the book, got to know me through the text and understanding me, they set up a book that just by flipping through it and without anyone reading it exudes "Stefanopoulos" and that is their success. It is worth mentioning that they provided me with all this while giving me the best financial offer from the market research I had done. It is no coincidence that I preferred them and trusted them with my book even though I live in Athens, while they are based in Thessaloniki and I knew that they were taking their first steps in the publishing field. This turned out to be only positive and the result of their work, but also of our cooperation, justified me greatly. A testament to how happy I am with the iwrite team is the fact that I have introduced them to people of mine who were interested in publishing a book, who ended up working with them and are just as happy working with me. I wish them to reach the top of their field, because they are excellent children and they deserve it.

Do you think the book helped you in any area?

The book and especially the events that followed after its publication was an unexpected positive turn in my life that came without having planned it and without expecting it. First of all writing the book itself was a kind of psychotherapy and mental redemption for me. What I had never said to myself, I said in three hundred pages and even after twenty years of abstinence from sports events and absolute silence.
After this book, people who have known me for thirty years or so have said to me, "We thought we knew you, but we didn't." But the big surprise for me that made me realize the power of a book was to find out that it is read by people who live in Cairo, New York, Malaysia, Australia, South Africa, Moscow... in more than thirty countries of the world. This caused me great awe. It was also very moving to see the respect and admiration in the eyes of fifteen and twenty year olds who are in my field but when I was boxing they were unborn and before the book they were ignorant of my existence. I recharged my batteries with the love and respect of people from all over the planet who rushed through an e-mail or a phone call to express their appreciation and say thank you. This is the greatest reward.

"After this book, people who have known me for thirty years or so have said to me, 'We thought we knew you, but we didn't.' But the big surprise for me that made me realize the power of a book was to find out that it is read by people who live in Cairo, New York, Malaysia, Australia, South Africa, Moscow... in more than thirty countries of the world. This caused me great awe.”