Tommy Morrison

This article is about the boxer. For other persons of the same name, see Tom Morrison (disambiguation).

Tommy Morrison
Born	Tommy Morrison (1969-01-02) January 2, 1969 Gravette, Arkansas
Nationality	American
Other names	The Duke The Machine Gun
Statistics
Weight(s)	Heavyweight
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	52
Wins	48
Wins by KO	43
Losses	3
Draws	1
No contests	0

Tommy David Morrison (born January 2, 1969) is a former American heavyweight boxer, and the former World Boxing Organization champion. He became known as "The Duke" after claiming to be a grandnephew of Hollywood star John Wayne. Morrison was a co-star in the 1990 boxing movie Rocky V.

Amateur boxing career

Morrison was born in Gravette, Arkansas. At the urging of his father, Morrison, who was raised in Delaware County, Oklahoma, and whose older brother and two uncles were boxers, began boxing locally at the age of ten. Beginning at the age of 13, Morrison entered fifteen "toughman" contests using a fake ID (the minimum age for contestants was 21). He told The New York Times that he lost only one of these contests.

In 1988, Morrison won the Regional Heavyweight Title - Kansas City Golden Gloves from Donald Ellis and advanced to the National Golden Gloves in Omaha, Nebraska, where he lost a split decision to Derek Isaman. Two weeks later, Morrison took part in the Western Olympic trials in Houston, Texas winning the Heavyweight Title and garnishing the "Most Outstanding Fighter" of the tournament. Two weeks after that at the Olympic Trials, held in Concord, California, Morrison lost a split decision to Ray Mercer, who would go on to win the gold medal at the Seoul Olympics. Morrison's combined professional and amateur record is 343-24-1, with 315 wins by knockout.

Professional boxing career

Morrison started his professional boxing career on November 10, 1988, with a first-round knockout of William Muhammad in New York City. Three weeks later, he scored another first-round knockout of a fellow journeyman. In 1989, Morrison had 19 wins, 15 by knockout. Among the fighters he defeated were Lorenzo Boyd, Dan Maloney, David Jaco, Lorenzo Canady, Steve Zouski and Ken Lakusta.

In 1991, Morrison, already the recipient of much television exposure, won four fights against opponents James Quick Tillis and former world champion Pinklon Thomas. He was given an opportunity to face fellow undefeated fighter Ray Mercer, the WBO title holder in a Pay Per View card held on October 18, 1991. Morrison suffered the first loss of his career, losing by 5th round knockout. Morrison had six wins in 1992, including fights with Art Tucker and Joe Hipp, who would later become the first Native American to challenge for the world heavyweight title. In the Hipp fight, held June 27, 1992, Morrison was suffering from what was later discovered to be a broken hand and broken jaw, but rallied to score a knockout in the ninth round. After two wins in 1993, including one over two-time world title challenger Carl "The Truth" Williams, Morrison found himself fighting for the WBO title again, against heavyweight boxing legend George Foreman, who was himself making a comeback. As both men were famed for their punching power, an exciting battle was expected, but Morrison chose to avoid brawling with Foreman and spent the fight boxing from long range. Foreman marched forward relentlessly, but Morrison was so determined to avoid Foreman's power that he actually turned his back to retreat on several occasions. The crowd had little patience with this tactic, and began to boo Morrison as the fight progressed. However, Morrison was able to hit and move effectively in this manner, and after a closely contested bout he won a unanimous 12-round decision and the WBO title.

Morrison's first defense was scheduled against Mike Williams, but when Williams withdrew on the night of the fight, Tim Tomashek stood in as a replacement. Although Tomashek had been prepared to fight as a backup plan, some news reports created the impression that he had just been pulled out of the crowd. The WBO later rescinded their sanctioning of this fight due to Tomashek's lack of experience. Almost immediately, talks of a fight with WBC world champion Lennox Lewis began, but were halted when virtually unknown Michael Bentt upset Morrison in his next bout. Bentt knocked Morrison down three times, and the fight was stopped in the first round in front of a live HBO Boxing audience. Morrison recovered by winning three bouts in a row in 1994, but his last fight of the year, against Ross Puritty, ended with a draw.

Morrison won three fights in 1995 before meeting former contender Razor Ruddock for the IBC Heavyweight Championship. Ruddock dropped Morrison to his knees in the first round, but Morrison recovered to compete on even terms for five rounds. In the sixth round, Ruddock hurt Morrison with a quick combination, but just as it seemed Morrison was in trouble, he countered with a tremendous hook that put Ruddock on the canvas. Ruddock regained his feet, but Morrison drove him to the ropes and showered him with an extended flurry of blows. Just as the bell was about to sound, the referee stepped in and declared Morrison the winner by TKO.

The much-anticipated fight with Lewis, who had also lost his world championship, finally took place following the Ruddock match. However, Morrison looked listless, possibly from his addiction to narcotics, and was never in the fight as Lewis picked him off relentlessly from long range. Morrison was knocked out in the sixth round.

A few days before his next fight, to be shown on Showtime, Morrison allegedly tested positive on a mandatory HIV test performed by the Nevada Athletic Commission. It was announced during Showtime's telecast of the boxing undercard that Morrison failed his physical. He was scheduled to fight Louisville Kentucky's Arthur "Stormy" Weathers in the 1st of 3 fights for a bid to the heavyweight title. A second test also came back positive, and a "reflective" Morrison told reporters that he viewed HIV/AIDS "as the product of his age". Later in 1996, Morrison announced that he wished to make a comeback with one more bout, the proceeds of which would benefit his newly created KnockOut Aids Foundation. Morrison won the non-sanctioned fight in a first-round knockout of Marcus Rhode in Tokyo.

Boxing comeback and HIV controversy

In 1996, Morrison was denied a license and placed on indefinite suspension which was lifted in 2006 , by the Nevada board after allegedly testing HIV positive. In 2001, Morrison told the New York Daily News that he was taking antiretroviral medication and that the medication was working: his viral load had dropped to low levels. In 2006, Morrison began to allege that his positive HIV tests had been false positive, and that he had received several negative test results beginning with tests conducted in 2000-2001 during his 14 months in prison on drugs charges. He also began to deride "conventional views on H.I.V. and AIDS". Doctors hired by various news organizations to review Morrison's test results expressed skepticism but stated that if Morrison was not currently infected, he never had been.

Morrison claimed that he had tested negative for HIV on four occasions from 2006-2007. In early 2007, the head of the Arizona State Boxing Commission personally watched Morrison take a blood test at a lab in Phoenix and received the official HIV negative result. However, a physician did not clear Morrison to fight. Morrison was licensed on February 20, 2007 by the West Virginia Athletic Commission and after over ten years away from the ring, Morrison, 38, was allowed to fight in February, 2007, in West Virginia, a state that does not normally require blood testing of boxers. However, West Virginia did request that Morrison take a test. According to the New York Times, it "remains unclear whether anyone monitored the...blood draw", but West Virginia accepted the test results and allowed the fight to proceed. Facing John Castle of Indianapolis in a four-round bout on February 22, 2007 at Mountaineer Race Track in Chester, Morrison knocked Castle out in the middle of round two. Castle (4-2, 2 KOs), had been knocked out in his last two fights.

Commenting on Morrison's HIV statuts, Keith Kizer of the Nevada boxing commission stated, "I hope he's HIV negative, I really do, but it doesn't seem likely...We'll wait and see what happens. He said he's been tested several times in recent years, but (we'll ask) what happened from 1996 and 2002, the years he won't talk about." Morrison has stated that he has tried to get a copy of the original test results. "We've asked, but they can't come up with it," he said. "I don't think it ever existed." USA Today reported that "Goodman said that's nonsense: 'All Mr. Morrison has to do is contact the laboratory, and they would immediately release the results to him.'" Morrison says he has tried since 2007 to obtain the results and that he did contact the laboratory.

In June, 2007, Morrison won a fight by knockout in Arizona. The fight was held on a Yavapai-Apache Nation reservation, outside the jurisdiction of the state, which would require HIV blood testing.

The Arizona Republic reported in its June 8 edition that Morrison had tested positive for HIV. A former associate alleged that Morrison had tested positive as late as January, 2007, and accused Morrison "of possible blood tampering and fraud" in relation to his negative HIV tests. The chair of the Nevada commission's medical advisory board reviewed Morrison's status after learning about his comeback and concluded the positive results "are ironclad and unequivocal."

In 2008, Morrison says he received another negative test result. Morrison was cleared to fight in Leon, Mexico on the February 9, 2008 undercard of JC Chavez Jr.'s 35th pro win. He boxed Matt Weishaar and won via a third round TKO. On January 31, 2009, Morrison faced Corey "Whiz Kid" Williams for the Wyoming Heavyweight Championship at the Albany Fair Grounds in Laramie, WY. Morrison defeated his opponent in the 1st round by TKO. Morrison said in November 2009 that his next boxing fight would be in March 2010, and that he had a three-fight deal to fight in New Zealand, presumably to fight Australian champion John Hopoate. Morrison also said that revenue from his fights will go towards his children's foundation.

Mixed martial arts

Morrison made his (MMA) debut against 340-pound John Stover. Due to the fight taking place outside of the jurisdiction of the Arizona State Athletic Commission, the rules were modified. Instead of the standard three 5-minute rounds, the match was scheduled for three 3-minute rounds and all ground fighting was prohibited. Thirty minutes before the fight took place, the rules were further changed to prohibit any kind of kicks, knee strikes or elbow strikes, effectively turning the MMA match into a boxing match with 4-ounce MMA gloves. Morrison was victorious, breaking Stover's nose and winning by TKO at the 2:06 mark of the 1st round. tommy morrison coming back in october 29th 2010 vs tba in auburn washington

Actor

In 1989, Sylvester Stallone observed one of Morrison's bouts. Stallone arranged a script reading and cast Morrison as Tommy "Machine" Gunn in the movie. The release of Rocky V in November, 1990, brought Morrison widespread recognition.

He played himself in a documentary, The Opponents (2006), about character Rocky Balboa's boxing opponents. He also had an uncredited role in John Carpenter's 1988 movie, They Live. Morrison has appeared as himself in one episode each of the TV shows Cybill (1996) and Boulevard of Broken Dreams (2007), and was featured on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1993) and several ESPN programs.

External links

• Official Website
• Tommy Morrison Fight-by-Fight Career Record
• Boxing record for Tommy Morrison from BoxRec (registration required)