By Thomas Gerbasi
With a mother who was a college basketball star and a sister who is on her way to being one as well, Trey Lippe-Morrison might have gone down a different athletic path than the one that’s taking him to this Friday’s Shobox card at Buffalo Run Casino in Miami, Oklahoma.
“Hoops was probably my favorite sport in high school,” Lippe said. “That’s the sport I had the most fun playing, but man, when you’re talking about men’s basketball, I’m missing a couple inches, especially since I was a post player for the most part.”
The 6-foot-2 Vinita, Oklahoma native could have invented a new position: power guard.
“I would need a lot of time to be able to do that,” he laughs. “I’d love to try it, but I just didn’t have the time for it. That would have been pretty cool.”
Instead, Lippe gravitated to the gridiron, ultimately playing for the University of Central Arkansas, but his NFL dreams wouldn’t materialize. It was then that he strayed from his mother’s side of the athletic equation and began to embrace his father’s.
Trey Lippe’s father is Tommy Morrison.
A former WBO heavyweight champion who passed away at 44 in 2013, “The Duke” was a knockout artist straight out of central casting, and he did actually hit Hollywood as “Tommy Gunn” in Rocky V. But when he was diagnosed with HIV in 1996, his career hit the skids.
At the time of the announcement, Trey was six years old. Morrison never married Lippe’s mother Cristi, but he stayed in his son’s life, even as Cristi married Mark Lippe, who raised Trey as his own. It’s why Lippe didn’t come flying out of the gate in the boxing world as Trey Morrison, opting instead to pay tribute to both his fathers.
“My stepdad, Mark Lippe, took a big part in raising me, so I’m going to honor that name,” Lippe said. “Morrison is not my real legal name that I go by, but I do use it now. Lippe-Morrison, I’m going to use them both. And the reason I’m using my dad’s name a little bit is to honor him. If I can do good and make a name for myself, I want to honor him by using his name as well. That’s why I left his name on my fight trunks.”
There’s no hiding that the 26-year-old is his father’s son. He looks like him, sounds like him, and as his 11-0, 11 KOs record shows, he can punch a little bit too. It’s a series of similarities that isn’t lost on Lippe
“Even when I really didn’t know much about boxing, I saw that our movements are the same,” he said. “How I move around the ring looks like him moving around the ring. I’ve got a lot to learn, but there are some crazy similarities.”
Lippe is even working with Morrison’s longtime promoter and friend, Tony Holden, who did everything in his power to try and discourage Lippe from a career in the ring.
“At first, he wasn’t gonna do it,” Lippe said. “I just think he didn’t want to see me go down the wrong paths in this business, so I think that’s what made him make that decision, and I’m so thankful that he did, because he’s helped me every step of the way. I wouldn’t be where I’m at without him.”
But Holden would let Lippe know about the other side of the game, the one that doesn’t show up in mega pay-per-view bouts or premium cable showcases.
“He (Holden) told me a lot of stories,” Lippe said. “He told me I had to trust him, and based off what I’ve seen and from what I’ve heard in stories my dad used to tell, Tony’s a good guy. I fully trust him and he hasn’t done me wrong not one bit.”
Holden is one of the good guys in the sport, but as much as he can do for Lippe, he can’t fight for him. Neither can renowned trainer Freddie Roach, but the fact that he is working with the up and comer is a good sign, as Roach will not baby him on the way up the ranks. As for going from Tulsa to Hollywood, Lippe is adjusting well.
“It’s treating me good,” he said of life in Southern Cali. “It’s a little different from home, but I’m getting used to it and I’m basically living out here full-time. I come out here and I train, I go home to fight, after my fight I stay home for about a week, and then I come right back here.”
Heading into Friday’s bout against fellow unbeaten Ed Latimore, Lippe has made short work of his opposition, with eight of his 11 knockouts coming in the first round. On paper, Pittsburgh’s Latimore is a step up, and being that it’s on a nationally-televised stage is a big deal. But is it too much too soon for a young man with boxing in his DNA, but no amateur background? It begs the question, is Mr. Lippe an impatient man?
“I can’t lie,” he laughs. “I have to say sometimes.”
So is this one of those times?
“It was a little bit of me. It was also Freddie and my promoter, Tony Holden. Since Tony thinks I’m ready, and especially since Freddie thinks I’m ready, that really helps with my confidence also. Since both of them think I’m ready and with what I’ve accomplished in this training camp, I think I’m ready. So I’d say it’s a combination of all that.”
That’s a fighter talking, one who knows that everyone he meets in the ring will be placing a neon target on his back because of his father’s name.
“That was one thing Tony put on me, and that was the one thing I kind of knew before he even told me,” Lippe said. “With me being who I am, and being my dad’s son, I’m gonna have a big target on my back. So I’ve been ready for that going in. So every time I go in for a fight, I’m ready to face that opponent at his best. I have that target on my back, but that’s something I’ve been dealing with this whole time in boxing, ever since I started. I’m talking sparring, everything. I have to deal with that every time I go to the gym. Even when I spar, people go, ‘Oh, that’s Tommy Morrison’s son.’ Just because of who my dad was, they think they’re proving something if they beat me up. That’s something I deal with every day, and I’m getting used to that. But one thing I know is that if I go in and I do my best, it don’t matter how hard they’re coming because I’m doing my best also.”
So what would dad think of his little boy battling as a grown man in the ring?
“I think he’d be really proud of me,” Lippe said. “I wish he was here so I could hear what he had to say, but I think he would really be proud of me of what I’ve done in a short amount of time.”
