Tommy "The Duke" Morrison

Tommy Morrison retrospective

I was reading rumours that Tommy Morrison is at deaths door with literally days to live (I hasten to add these are rumours and not fact) and I thought I would look into his background a little more, as I only knew a little about him.

And looking through his Wiki page, there was some really interesting things I wanted to point out - certainly worth a discussion!

1. His nickname was the Duke that he called himself after revealing he was John Waynes grand nephew. HOWEVER, this was never proven!

2. He lost his first fight to Ray Mercer in a WBO title fight.

3. He then won the WBO title a little later, beating George Foreman

4. He relinquished the title losing to Michael Bentt

5. He beat Donovan Razor Ruddock who had also fought Tyson twice and Lennox once.

6. His last major fight was a loss to Lennox Lewis.

7. He was tested positive for HIV in Feb 1996 which effectively ended his career.

8. In 2006 he claimed that the test results were wrong and that he didnt have HIV. Amazingly Nevada reinstated him and gave him his boxing license.

9. In 2007, Morrison began fighting again and took 4 tests which he passed. However, ringside doctors expressed doubt, implying that the negative results were not in fact based on Morrison's blood. The experts agreed that no one is ever cured of HIV.

10. in 2011 the boxing commission of Quebec asked him to take a supervised test which he declined.

11. His last fight was in 2008 which he won although he had a fight in early 2009 in Wyoming that The Kansas City Star described as a "staged" event and a "fake fight." (according to wiki)

12. He starred in Rocky V as Tommy "the machine" Gunn.

Which leads us to now and his apparent fading health, which some are convinced is as a result of full blown AIDS virus (This is unconfirmed rumours and there is no evidence of this).

So what do we make of the whole story of "the Duke".

Was he a good fighter? What do we make of his HIV tests (remember that there is no evidence that he has it when you start passing opinion as fact!).

Lets hear your thoughts....

"Full blown aids" - sounds like that song Peter Griffin sang.

Underappreciated I feel. Had a good technique and will be sorely missed when he does die. Not sure what to make of the HIV thing, a lot of noise around the time was efforts to discredit him as he didn't play ball with promoters.

Always came to win and had a great heart.

He was a good fighter.......His chin let him down........

Beating mercer until he got caught....came through wars with Williams and Ruddock.......Had a good fight with Foreman.......

A good heavyweight............but nothing more.....

Mercer's ko of him was one of the most brutal I've ever seen.

He was a steroid abuser -- who knows whether anyone would ever have heard of him had he not hit the juice?

Always one of my fave fighters of the 90's crop of heavies second only to the famous 70's bunch.

The Duke had 1 of the best left hooks I have ever seen and back then he stirred up a lot of interest. He was like a white Mike Tyson when he first hit the scene.

Felt sorry for him after Mercer brutally dispatched Tommy in savage, animal like fashion but as you say he bounced back. Good pro could have done more had he not had a taste for fast cars and fast woman (some say he laid about three a day). Put up a good effort against Lewis but just could not get past that jab.

I hope he is well and all the best.

Hasn't he been on death's door for a few years now? keep hearing reports he's passed away but nothing concrete, very sad. There was an interview with him in 2010 wanting to have one last go at the title, thank god they didn't allow him to box again.

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:Always one of my fave fighters of the 90's crop of heavies second only to the famous 70's bunch.

The Duke had 1 of the best left hooks I have ever seen and back then he stirred up a lot of interest. He was like a white Mike Tyson when he first hit the scene.

Felt sorry for him after Mercer brutally dispatched Tommy in savage, animal like fashion but as you say he bounced back. Good pro could have done more had he not had a taste for fast cars and fast woman (some say he laid about three a day). Put up a good effort against Lewis but just could not get past that jab.

I hope he is well and all the best.

White Mike Tyson? Poor man's Gerry Cooney. A confirmed drugs cheat that no doubt injured a few poor suckers on the way up as a result. They could strike him out of the record books for me.

Often ignored but Hearns' left hook deserves respect.

wrong thread.

Morrison was always exciting to watch. As stated he had a devastating left hook but was always found wanting at the top level. He loved the attention boxing gave him but apparently this led to his downfall too - I remember reading that his "non-existant" HIV came from an "unclean lady". He was known for being a bit of a swordsman and not really caring where he put it...

So much more than a redneck brawler, Tommy was a pretty accomplished KO artist who more than likely would have won a strap against the likes of Chagaev & Ruiz had his career been 10 years later. A bit of a waste, really.

He never had HIV. It has been nearly 20 years since he was diagnosed with HIV, He says he does not have HIV, he had a 2nd HIV test which said he was negative and he has not taken any medicine for 20 years. If he had HIV he would be dead by now due to not taking medicine and if he was still alive he would not be in any physical shape to get in the ring and box.

That is, of course, if he was telling the truth.

hazharrison wrote:

ONETWOFOREVER wrote:Always one of my fave fighters of the 90's crop of heavies second only to the famous 70's bunch.

The Duke had 1 of the best left hooks I have ever seen and back then he stirred up a lot of interest. He was like a white Mike Tyson when he first hit the scene.

Felt sorry for him after Mercer brutally dispatched Tommy in savage, animal like fashion but as you say he bounced back. Good pro could have done more had he not had a taste for fast cars and fast woman (some say he laid about three a day). Put up a good effort against Lewis but just could not get past that jab.

I hope he is well and all the best.

White Mike Tyson? Poor man's Gerry Cooney. A confirmed drugs cheat that no doubt injured a few poor suckers on the way up as a result. They could strike him out of the record books for me.

Before I remove these potentially libellous comments, where is the proof of his drug 'cheating'?

He admitted it. Said it was widespread

I'm no lawyer but if i said something about someone on here would V2 take responsibility? Wouldn't they only be responsible for removing the comment after a complaint had been made? For instance, is twitter libel for defamation or is it the individual who writes the tweet? Out of curiosity does any know if V2 or the old 606 ever had someone try and sue?

Imagine if I hated Adam D so wrote on V2 that he sells drugs to school kids, he'd get sued for slander as the owner of V2 haha

TheMackemMawler wrote:I'm no lawyer but if i said something about someone on here would V2 take responsibility? Wouldn't they only be responsible for removing the comment after a complaint had been made? For instance, is twitter libel for defamation or is it the individual who writes the tweet? Out of curiosity does any know if V2 or the old 606 ever had someone try and sue?

jut to clarify,we have had two cases where legal action has been involved, and 1 where the police where involved.

I would also point you towards the east side boxing forum who are culling their members left right and centre because of legal action

I'm not being uppity Adam I'm just curious. I guess a complaint is more of an inconvenience/administrative burden than a financial problem.

TheMackemMawler wrote:I'm not being uppity Adam I'm just curious. I guess a complaint is more of an inconvenience/administrative burden than a financial problem.

On two occasions we have had lawyers approach us about legal action regarding comments made on this site.

We have also had the police contact us regards a complaint made by a poster.

All 3 occasions were extremely time consuming and personally stressfull and that is before it got any further than a mere warning. I dont know the legal ramifications, financial implications but most importantly of all, I don't want to find out.

From the horses mouth, if this is a reliable enough source.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2007-03-28-morrison-comeback_N.htm

joeyjojo618 wrote:From the horses mouth, if this is a reliable enough source.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/2007-03-28-morrison-comeback_N.htm

Cheers Joey - good enough for me!

Sorry, didn't see this. Wouldn't want to make more work for anyone:

http://www.secondsout.com/columns/thomas-hauser/mayweather-pacquiao-peds-and-boxing

Few fighters are as candid as Tommy Morrison, who admitted in a 2005 interview with RingsideReport.com that he used steroids throughout his boxing career.

"You become bigger, faster, and stronger,” Morrison said. “It helps with your endurance and recovery time between rounds. I looked around and, from what I saw, everybody was doing the same s***. It wasn’t something that was talked about openly; but when you looked around, you could tell. I just looked at it as bettering my chances. Without steroids, I wouldn’t have gone as far as I did. I guarantee you that.”

Anybody see the documentary that followed him around as he attempted a comeback? The Comeback I think it was called. Rather a bizzare fellow from the looks of things. He ended up basically taking a fight wherever he could, including battering some 400lb whale in a cage fight.

There was also a story about him claiming to be able to teleport...

http://offthebench.nbcsports.com/2011/02/18/tommy-morrison-believes-in-teleportation-says-theres-no-such-thing-as-hiv/

Alledgedly, he smoked a LOT of wacky baccy in a bid to self-medicate.

He now calls himself Snoop Lion and claims to be the reincarnation of Bob Marley.