How good was Tommy Morrison?

[wpink1]

Tommy and I use to work out at Bally's in Overland Park Ks, he and his trainer. At the time I had no idea who he was at first, until one day we where all standing around talking and he said "I think i can beat Tyson". We all looked but just assumed it was just people talking stuff. Then a week later he passed out invites regarding a fight he was having, and I had heard the name.

He was a good guy, for the most part. He saw me hitting the bag at ******** boxing club once and gave me kudos on my left hook, at this time we had knew each other, not like friend by by recognition. I had moved up to Gladstone MO, and he was from that area, and there was this one guy that they would fight (street fight) everytime they saw each other, with Tommy cominig out on the losing end. I never witnessed this, as it was at primarily house party's for those that those who grew up there went to or at school, but the RUMOR (since Tommy was a big name by that time) around their was repeated by pretty much everyone I ever discussed him with.

As for his chin..he did not have a great chin by any means. I am not saying Tyson had one either. The difference is Tyson came up a boxer, thus he knew how to do other things that complimented taking a punch, or offest it, that is he had great head movment early on (Tommy didnt), Tyson had no problems with Stamina (Tommy did big time), Tommy never knew how to pace himself...Thus some of the basics that fghters who learned the art early on and progressed upwards, some of these basics that Tommy didnt have early on, impacted him big time as he faced better fighters.

Tyson IMO would have literally destroyed Tommy, unless tommy caught him coming in, then Tommy had a very very good offense with good power. However what would tommy do to stop Tyson from steamrolling him. NOTHING.

[Welter_Skelter]

I used to work at CocaCola and I used to talk current boxing with a lot of the warehouse guys. One guy in particular would always rave about Tommy Morrison and how great he was in his heyday. I looked him up on boxrec.com and seems like he's fought some fair talent. What do you guys have to say?

Good enough to beat most guys.. but not good enough to beat the best

[LondonRingRules]

I used to work at CocaCola and I used to talk current boxing with a lot of the warehouse guys. One guy in particular would always rave about Tommy Morrison and how great he was in his heyday. I looked him up on boxrec.com and seems like he's fought some fair talent. What do you guys have to say?

** I'm shocked that most of the comments are quite reasonable.

Morrison tends to be one of those polarizing figures, like Tyson, who shortcircuits reasonable logic and attracts a vast array of hater types or fanboys.

On a natural talent and attributes level, I'd rank him 8-9 on a scale of ten which puts him up there with most heavy champs. His downfall was in his labeling, Another Great White Hope by his critics, and The Duke's fair haired slugger nephew by his promoters and supporters.

He was a star and local legend when he turned pro, and was youthfully reckless in his aim to answer the critics and please the fans. It was all a big party and show for him as he was obviously not much for training and more than willing to take shortcuts that he admits to, the steroids.

His first loss to Mercer is no shame, but damning in his lack of preparation and planning. Certainly no worse than Louis losing to Schmeling, Patterson to Ingo, but, unlike them, he didn't seem to learn much from it. No shame in losing to Lewis, a terrible combination of style and strength matchup for him. The Bentt loss is the curious one that makes out like he has a glass chin. Louis probably got knocked down more as did Patterson, but Louis is generally accorded as having a decent chin, but could get hurt, whereas Floyd labeled with the glass department, which, like Tommy, is really unfair and not the case.

The win over Foreman was the most complete win over Big George in his comeback. Though the tactics could be questioned from an enthusiast point of view, Morrison showed he could box and move when he wanted. His KO% is 81%, one of the best in history, and his fights, win, lose, or draw almost always highly charged action and excitement, only 2nd to Tyson.

The steroids take some shine off, but it's something he's never hidden unlike Holy who gets a vast amount of credit and is only now coming under criticism and reevaluation.

People forget that Morrison was only just 26 yrs old when his career is over, a traditional prime age for a heavy, yet already 45-3-1, 39 KOs, not including post HIV fights. Hard to know if he would have ever matured enough to make maximum use of his talent, but he did briefly hold a minor belt against one of the best HOF heavies in history.

I'd put him somewhere in the top 50 heavies, maybe even as high as, say 30th, but I don't sweat minor rankings much. The guy was always gonna be in any fight with his speed and power and Lord knows we could use more Morrisons and less Ruiz's and White Tyson wannabes these days.

[MindBat]

I believe he had a promising career as a prize fighter.

The kid was good looking, had a well built physique, and was related to The Duke.

He chose the celebrity lifestyle which came with the booze, the women, the clubs, the women, the drugs, the women, the booze, the women, and the clubs.

And I think being in a Rocky movie made him a bit overconfident.

[randy johnson]

Ok let me ask you people this then. Does Archie Moore have a bad chin? Moore was knocked out in his prime at middleweight by some unknown fighter in 1 round or so. Moore was knock down countless times in his career but in all of the forums i been too i never seen one person mention his weak chin. Do you know why his chin is never mentioned? Because if it was it would prove a another point i try to get across to you people and that is Marciano wasn't a hard puncher. Look at the people Morrison got knocked out by again. Bent, Mercer, and Lewis. Bent was a pretty decent fighter who was hurt by Herbie Hide so you don't know if he could of done more with his career or not. Lewis was the 2 time world champion and Mercer for a time was considered to be a top flight heavyweight.


Look at the people who knocked down and floored Moore. You didn't have to be a big ****** to knock this guy down but it took Marciano 8 or 9 round to knock out a guy who was pushing 40 and was knocked out by people who were in his own weight class much easier. I will say this again you people base what you believe on what other people say and not what you see for your own 2 eyes. When somebody mentions a heavyweight with a great chin most of you will choose somebody like Tua or McCall but how many times in their career were the really tagged? You will mention Chuvalo who was stopped by Frazier and Foreman in 3 rounds. If the ref didnt stop the fight he would of went down eventually. What middleweights did Lamotta fight who were mudereous punchers like Julian Jackson, Pavlik, Benn, or McClellan? He fought guys who werent big punchers and that is why he wasnt knocked down often.

You can't trash Morrison for being stopped 3 times but then say Tyson a guy who was stopped 5 times has a better chin. Infact look at it this way, any heavyweight who is a ****er will leave himself open to be hit. Which means eventually you are going to take some yourself. Few heavyweights who always came forward looking for the one punch knockout didnt go down from time to time. By no means did Morrison have a great chin but it was not nearly as bad as you people make it out to be.

[MindBat]

All fighters are susceptible to the KO.

However, one can easily distinguish who has a weak chin and who doesn't by the number of times a fighter has been knocked down or out throughout his career.

A lot has to do with a fighter's defensive strategy and his state of mind during a bout.

[randy johnson]

Tunney i believe 38 is pushing 40 and i dont believe i mention how many times Moore was down against Marciano. The point is he was a natural middleweight who was knocked out by natural middleweights in a few rounds in his prime. The people who knocked Morrison out were actually heavyweights and they were all in their primes. He wasn't fighting 40 year guys who were blown up middleweights and getting knocked down by them like Marciano was. Anyway i was just giving examples of how some fighters who were knocked down alot never get punished for being knocked down while others get ripped apart for doing the same thing.

[randy johnson]

Tunney Moore spent the first 8 years of his career at middleweight before moving up to light heavyweight. I don't care how much Moore weighed when he fought Marciano. Marciano was naturally bigger than him and yet he still struggled to knock out a man with a china chin. Morrison was only knocked out by 200 plus pound men and in 2 of those fights he was on his feet when the fight was stopped. Wlad does have a bad chin by the way. The moment he is touched he gets hurt not to mention he has made a career out of fighting 3rd rate fighters.

[wpink1]

Lets just say Tommy lack of a serious amateur career exposed his chin more, than say a Tyson who learned (at least early on) defense and how to conserve energy. Tommy really never learned this, he would be winded many of time early on in fights.

[randy johnson]

wpink1 Lets just say Tommy lack of a serious amateur career exposed his chin more, than say a Tyson who learned (at least early on) defense and how to conserve energy. Tommy really never learned this, he would be winded many of time early on in fights.


Good point, Maybe Morrison went down in some of his fights because of stamina more than his chin being bad.