Tommy Morrison wins AIDS by KO!

Tommy Morrison
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Born    January 2, 1969
Total Fights    51
Won    47
Lost    3
Draw    1
Knockouts    41
Titles Won    Heavyweight

(IBC, WBO)

Tommy David Morrison (born January 2, 1969, Jay, Oklahoma) is a former heavyweight boxing champion. Dubbed "The Duke", he is the grandnephew of Hollywood star John Wayne.

Morrison is often mentioned as one of the hardest hitting heavyweights of the 1990's. He was also well known for having a weak chin. As a result, his career has been full of spectacular knockouts, both in victory and defeat. Morrison started his professional boxing career on November 10, 1988, with a first-round knockout of William Muhammad in New York City. Twenty days later, he scored another first-round knockout.

In 1989, Morrison had 19 wins, 15 by knockout. Among the fighters he beat were former Mike Tyson opponents Lorenzo Boyd, Dave Jaco and Lorenzo Canady, as well as former George Foreman opponents Steve Zouski and Ken Lakusta.

Morrison's biggest breakthrough, however, came in 1989, when Sylvester Stallone was a spectator at one of his bouts and realized Morrison would be ideal for Rocky V. Stallone arranged for Morrison to have a script reading, and cast Morrison as Tommy Gunn in the movie. While Morrison did win two fights in 1990, it was when Rocky V was released in December of that year that he gained mainstream popularity.

In 1991, Morrison, already the recipient of much television exposure, won four fights, against opponents the caliber of former Larry Holmes world title challenger and Tyson opponent James Quick Tillis, and former world champion John Visconti. He was then given a crack at becoming a title holder by WBO champ Ray Mercer in a Pay Per View card held on October 18, 1991. For four rounds, Morrison fought an impressive fight, driving Mercer around the ring with hard, sharply-thrown combinations. Unfortunately for Morrison, Mercer possessed one of the sturdiest chins in the history of the heavyweight division, and Morrison's best bombs hardly made him blink. Mercer bided his time, and then, in round five, finally opened up with hard shots of his own. He trapped Morrison on the ropes and landed a terrifying sequence of blows. As Morrison slowly slid down the ropes to the canvas, already out cold, Mercer continued to pound him.

Now hitting the comeback trail, Morrison had six wins in 1992, including one over former Riddick Bowe opponent Art Tucker, and one over future world title challenger Joe Hipp, who would later become the first Native American to challenge for the world heavyweight title. After two wins in 1993, including one over two-time former world title challenger Carl "The Truth" Williams, Morrison found himself fighting for the WBO title again, this time against comebacking heavyweight legend George Foreman, on June 7. 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 understandably 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 encounter he won a unanimous 12 round decision, and the WBO title. Almost immediately, talks of a fight with WBC world champion Lennox Lewis began.

Talk of a Morrison-Lewis fight, however, was dramatically brought to a halt when Morrison was upset in his first defense by the virtually unknown Michael Bentt. In a shocking turn of events, Morrison was caught cold and knocked down three times before being 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 then subsequently drew in his last fight of the year, against the deceptively tough trialhorse Ross Puritty (years later, Puritty would score a shocking upset victory over hot prospect Wladimir Klitschko).

He won three fights in 1995 before meeting former contender Razor Ruddock for the IBC Heavyweight Championship (one of the lowest regarded titles of all the alphabet organisations). In a thrilling encounter, Morrison was dropped to his knees in the first round, but 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 blasted Ruddock to the canvas. Remarkably, Ruddock regained his feet, but Morrison then drove him to the ropes and showered him with an extended flurry of blows. Just as the bell was about to sound to save Ruddock, the referee stepped in and declared Morrison the winner.

The fight with Lewis, who had also lost his world championship, then finally came to be after the fight against Ruddock. Disappointingly, Morrison fought timidly and was never in the fight, and Lewis picked him off comfortably from long range. Morrison was knocked down and stopped in six rounds.

HIV Testing and Retirement

A few days before his next fight, to be shown on Showtime, Morrison had a mandatory HIV test performed by the Nevada Athletic Commission. It was revealed during Showtime's telecast of the boxing undercard that Morrison's HIV test proved positive, automatically retiring him from boxing as a competitor.

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. Morrison finished his boxing career with a record of 47 wins, 3 losses, and 1 draw, with 41 of his wins by knockout.

After his retirement, Morrison spent 14 months in prison on drug and weapons charges, and he would later also plead guilty to drunk driving.

Testing Negative for HIV

His return to prizefighting came after several years of his belief that he was given a false-positive HIV exam in Las Vegas. Since December 2006, Morrison claimed that he had tested negative for HIV on four occasions. The head of the Arizona State Boxing Commission personally watched Morrison take a blood test at a lab in Phoenix, and received the official results demonstrating that Morrison was HIV negative.

As a result of his negative test in Phoenix, Morrison was licensed Tuesday February 20, 2007 by the West Virginia Athletic Commission and faced John Castle of Indianapolis in a four-round bout Thursday night February 22, 2007 at Mountaineer Race Track in Chester. Castle (4-2, 2 KOs) had been knocked out in his last two fights. After landing few punches, and being scored behind at the end of the first round, Morrison swooped in with his trademark left hook to knock out Castle in the middle of Round 2.