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Tommy Morrison exclusive
Tommy Morrison, a man that conjures up varying images for boxing fans and the general public alike. A former World Champion, a star in the Rocky V film and a man relieved of his profession by the decision to exclude him from it due to a positive HIV result. To this day the Duke is adamant that this positive result does not exist and that his time as World Champion was taken away from him far to soon. In this two part interview I delve into Tommys boxing story as well as his biggest fight yet-the one to clear his name and prove that he deserves his shot.
I first got in contact a few months back, we shared messages and found ourselves looking into the prospect of getting this amazing story out there for the world to see. Below is part one-an insight into the career of one of the best boxers of recent times.
I start at the beginning of the pro campaign, its 1988 and William Muhammed is to be the Dukes first opponent, “Did you always sense victory going into this fight and realise that it could be the start of an amazing journey?” He is in a confident mood, “Definitely, I knew I was going to win, I had done the work.” Such confidence is evident in fighters but for many it can be a front to allay their fears, “Were you always a confident fighter?” “Yes-if you don’t have confidence you shouldn’t be in the ring.” A fair point some would say and this confidence was clearly being shown in the ring, marching onto a record of 28-0 people could see that this was a fighter that could dispatch of the opposition quickly and efficiently, when the fight with Mercer came around some thought that this could be the first chink in the armour, “Well I’m always thinking of another win. One thing that i remember having in the back of my mind-knowing that I am fighting 10 rounds of fight-but never having passed 2 rounds in an actual fight! I didn’t realise that he could take so much punishment. I double sevened to get in-to move myself closer to him-and then threw a right hook to the body-and then came with a devastating four-and then i came back with a left hook which he was at that point definitely hurt-and if i would have followed thru with another overhand right-that would have been it.”
So with this unbeaten run continuing the Duke marched on, 10 more victories really put him on the map, in this period was the famous fight against Joe Hipp where Tommy suffered a broken jaw and hand whilst shattering the jaw of his opponent, one wonders how a fighter can continue with such pain, “Well there’s an old saying in the sport of boxing..the harder you work the harder it is to quit. I believe any other swinging dick would have quit. You feel the pain but you dont respond to it.”
Such bravery is admirable I am sure you can agree, next up came the big one-George Foreman -many people saw this as an easy chance for Morrison, the old man Foreman against the ferocious Tommy Morrison, I press him about his outlook on it, “Originally i never believed that George could take that good of a shot. I was very confident for that fight. I went away to a training facility at army camp where there was actually zero distractions. Quality training.” Now I am no boxer but George was getting on a bit at this stage, people would expect a Morrison victory, probably coming from that famous left but after the fight critics and fans alike were saying that the display was a lot more cautious from the normally explosive Duke, “Lets talk about the critics- they are exactly what they are. That’s their job. They are never going to encourage or compliment you. Like Sam Mellinger of the KC Star. I don’t worry about that. I just worry about things that are in my control.
I had to change my complete style in an 8 week period. Everyone expected us to beat the shit out of each other. I didnt have that approach. That was a hell of a task-me changing my complete style-and orchestrate it as flawlessly as I did. I was very proud of myself.” With that victory now in the bag the words World Champion echoed around for all to hear, it must be a great feeling for any sportsman to hear that, “You know what-I already knew I was world champion. When i am in the ring I don’t hear anything- if i get hit-I hear the crowd!” With Foreman disposed of the list of fighters wanting a title shot was growing, as a fighter you surely want to prove yourself against everybody out there, I wondered who Tommy wanted next, “Back then at that time-I didn’t have control of that-not that I couldn’t have-I didn’t want to worry about that. All I wanted was to train. One of the biggest mistakes I ever made. This time round I do.” With fights being arranged for him there will always be some fighters that slipped the net I was curious to see what Tommy thought of his chances against any of the guys he never got in the ring with, I’m not surprised by the answer quite simply, “I had the capablility of beating anybody.” It’s a Champions answer just look at Ali, Tyson, Frazier, Mayweather never do they think their abilities are in doubt.
The planned defence against Mike Williams didn’t quite run to plan and at short notice Tomashek was put in his place, surely this would mean that the first defence would be more a walk in the park as the guy was literally pulled out of the crowd? “He was always fighting every 2 or 3 weeks. We knew there was a possibility that Williams would pull out. We were paying him $150,000 for the fight. He asked for an advance-$30,000 for training expenses etc - about a week later he called and needed another $30k- you don’t go through 30k in 10 days unless you have something major going on there. I saw a potential problem here. We had to have somebody available. This was about 4 weeks before the fight. Tomashek was active. Couldnt break an egg-played with the crowd!” Some people say that Williams was just to plain scared to get in the ring with the Duke and his fearless left hand, Tommy disagrees, “He was just strung out on crack!!” Following the Tomashek fight a defeat came at the hands of Michael Bentt, had the confidence got to much for Morrison or was Bentt just the better fighter, “That was your classic case of a blind squirrel finding an acorn! Most people dont realise is that any heavweight out there can knock you out. I had him hurt-he was on his way to going down-he bounced off the ropes and came right down the pipe with a straight right hand. Hit me high on the head-buckled my legs and I went down.” It’s a frank admission, what I am more intrigued about is the nature of defeat, surely a round one knockout is the most humiliating kind of defeat for a fighter? “I’ve only lost 3 fights in my professional career-but each one that i have lost i learned a lesson-and further improved myself. People knew that they were going to get their money worth when they saw me fight. It is humbling to get your ass handed to you but what I received from it-gave me an indicator of what I needed to improve on. “ Its another honest answer and I can see from Tommy that he is happy to admit when he might have not been at his best, other fighters-David Haye for example-pick excuses over reason when trying to explain a loss.
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Originally Posted by russ010
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