Tommy Morrison was a rugged brawler early on, big time power, but fighting out of nowhere, I mean how many greats come from Oklahoma (he was born in Arkansas raised in OK) His early career was really plugging along quite well, but 'Rocky V' really got the spotlight on him and he was an outstanding 28-0-0 by the time he fought Ray Mercer. Some of those 28 were bums, but some were veteran boxers who are the norm for an up and comer to fight and he really did work his way up well.

Morrison's camp always said "Nobody knew Ray (Mercer) could take that kind of punishment" and I believe it, he was 17-0-0 going into that fight and I think the strongest puncher he faced before Tommy fought him was Bert Cooper who had pop but was a small heavyweight. Also Tommy and Ray had a good close fight in the amateurs at the Olympic trials which Tommy lost by SD....so I believe they thought they were just going to steam roll Ray, but Ray wasn't having any of it.

Tommy was a great fighter to watch because he gave you the drama with his power, with his defensive lapses, with his heart being bigger than his brain for the most part. Had Tommy been more of a boxer/puncher he'd probably have had more success as a boxer but far less fan support. Morrison was the heavyweight Arturo Gatti...he'd start out with the intentions of boxing and then go all brawler (except against Foreman who scared him straight).

The HIV result was a bad one. Tommy was only 26/27 years old when he was diagnosed with HIV in 1996 so he had a number of years left in him and then after boxing he may have gone back to acting. I certainly could see Tommy Morrison getting in on 'The Expendables' franchise had he never gotten HIV/AIDS. I believe Morrison was lining up to fight Michael Moorer at the time of his positive test and he was on a path to fight Mike Tyson and/or Riddick Bowe (if you were to listen to Tommy). All 3 of which would have been excellent fights as well as fights that Tommy could have won in all honesty, but at the very least he would have gone out on his shield which again the fans loved him for. Think about how Tommy would have done vs other contenders of his era, if he could take out Rudduck then why not Golota? What about Briggs? What about Tua? What about how he would have faired vs Holyfield? He could have had many many more big money fights and exciting fights.