Tommy Morrison's amateur record

[Caractacus]

How many amateur fights did he have ?

[Caractacus]

July 1988-a 18 yr old Tommy Morrison against 27 yr old Ray Mercer.

[DrDuke]

His Boxrec file points out: "Morrison claimed an amateur record of 222-20". There's probably no exact info anywhere. And it looks like, his amateur Mercer fight is everything what has been left o be seen.

[Caractacus]

I read somewhere were he started boxing at age 10 in Decatur Arkansas.
at age 13 he entered a Tough Man contest (using a fake ID as the age limit was 21 yrs) and won,he won $ 300.
He had a total of about 15 tough-Man compations in Arkansas,Oklahoma and Missouri,loosing only once
to someone who was also a 'ringer"an amateur boxer who had entered the tournament.

[JMac]

Amateur records are hard to verify as back in the day, they didn't even have passbooks like today. USA Boxing is trying to computerize it by making the sanction holders or somebody from the LBC enter the results online after a show to keep better track. As for Morrison he could fight and probably had lots of amateur fights. I was a R/J at the national PAL tournament around '88 when he won it and then turned pro. That was a ranking tournament back then and had good boxers in it.

[Caractacus]

Check out this article.

http://www.doghouseboxing.com/Newman/Newman020204.htm

[DrDuke]

Check out this article.

http://www.doghouseboxing.com/Newman/Newman020204.htm

Interesting, but his mother is named there Flossie for some reason. Her name is Diana. It was also seen in the "30 for 30" documentary. By the way, there were also some extracts of his toughman contests fights as well as the amateur ones in this documentary. This footage doesn't seem to be available anywhere else though.

[Caractacus]

maybe Flossie was his mother's nickname ?
There was a book published in 2014 about Tommy Morrison written by Charles Hood,
The main source for the author was Morrison's ex-wife.
but I haven't seen the book yet.
( i wonder if the book mentions what movie was playing at the Drive-in theater
when Morrison had his first (street)fight ?)

[DrDuke]

maybe Flossie was his mother's nickname ?
There was a book published in 2014 about Tommy Morrison written by Charles Hood,
The main source for the author was Morrison's ex-wife.
but I haven't seen the book yet.
( i wonder if the book mentions what movie was playing at the Drive-in theater
when Morrison had his first (street)fight ?)

Well, maybe that article called his mother by a nickname indeed. And that book - I actually didn't even know, there was such book. It can contain some interesting stuff.

[Caractacus]

yeah,here is a link to it.

[Caractacus]

One interview he says he had his first boxing match at age 8,
and when he was a HS Senior in 1988
he won

Kansas City Golden Gloves Regional HW Title..-( win against Donald Ellis.)

National Golden Gloves-Omaha Nebraska-(loss split decision against Derek Isaman)

June-4-1988 / Western Olympic Trials-Houston Texas-
Morrison outpoints John Bray 5-0 ,and wins HW Title and voted "Most Outstanding Fighter of the Tournament"

July 1988-/Olympic Trials-Concord,California-loss split decision against Ray Mercer

[Caractacus]

Kansas City Golden Gloves Regional HW Title..-( win against Donald Ellis.)

National Golden Gloves-Omaha Nebraska-(loss split decision against Derek Isaman)

June-4-1988 / Western Olympic Trials-Houston Texas-
Morrison outpoints John Bray 5-0 ,and wins HW Title and voted "Most Outstanding Fighter of the Tournament"

July 1988-/Olympic Trials-Concord,California-loss split decision against Ray Mercer

[NYboxing]

Claimed his record was 220-20 according to an article in the Bonner Spring-Edwardsville Chieftain (Kansas - March 16, 1989) and fought primarily in the Midwest.

Story also stated at 13 he started to take boxing serious, and used a fake ID to fight in "tough man" contest . Article claimed he won Oklahoma toughman event at 14 and also in Arkansas at 17.

Also stated in the story, Morrison advanced to semifinals of National GGs losing a split-decision to eventual champ and won Western Olympic Trials (1988).

Did some digging and he beat Robert Hargrove (4-1) in the semifinals and in the finals bested John Bray (5-0). at Western Trials.

1988 Golden Gloves results from in Omaha, Nebraska:

Opening round - dec Javier Alvarez

Quarterfinals - dec Warren Williams

Semifinal - Lost to Derek Isman

[Caractacus]

wasn't able to find any additional video footage of Tommy Morrison fighting as an amateur.
But here is some really rare video of him at age 19 in his second professional fight.

[DrDuke]

wasn't able to find any additional video footage of Tommy Morrison fighting as an amateur.
But here is some really rare video of him at age 19 in his second professional fight.

Talking about his pro-fights, all of them can be found at least not full. Except two: William Muhammad (debut) and Aaron Brown (fight #13)

[Caractacus]

we those 2 ever video-taped ?
who taped his other early fights,his manager ?
I think his manager sent copies of Morrison's fights to Bill Cayton and thats what got Cayton aboard.

[DrDuke]

we those 2 ever video-taped ?
who taped his other early fights,his manager ?
I think his manager sent copies of Morrison's fights to Bill Cayton and thats what got Cayton aboard.

I dunno, if those two were filmed. Maybe. And most likely his early fights were filmed by his manager, who exactly was Cayton. Cayton probably had been Tommy's manager from the beginning. It's known, that he began managing Tommy in 1988. And in 1988 Morrison had just 2 fights.

[jamamb]

tommy could really rip that left hook

[Bob]

Here is all that I have for Tommy's amateur career:

02/26/88 - Steve Cook - W 3 - Springfield, MO - won Missouri Golden Gloves
04/15/88 - Norris Grimes - TKO ? - Kansas City, MO - Regional Golden Gloves semifinals
04/16/88 - George Clark - TKO 2 - Kansas City, MO - Regional Golden Gloves finals
05/16/88 - Javier Alvarez - W 3 - Omaha, NB - National Golden Gloves 1st round
05/19/88 - Warren Williams - W 3 - Omaha, NB - National Golden Gloves quarterfinals
05/20/88 - Derek Isaman - L 3 - Omaha, NB - National Golden Gloves semifinals
06/03/88 - Robert Hargrove - W 3 - Houston, TX - Western Olympic Trials semifinals
06/04/88 - John Bray - W 3 - Houston, TX - Western Olympic Trials finals
07/05/88 - Ray Mercer - L 3 - Concord, CA - US Olympic Trials quarterfinals
10/xx/88 - won National PAL Tournament in Florida

He supposedly had a number of fights between the ages of 8 to 13, then began fighting Toughman before returning to the ring while in High School. He supposedly won the Junior Olympics in St. Louis in 1980. I believe the number of over 200 amateur fights is heavily exaggerated.

[NYboxing]

great job Bob!!!!

1988 PAL fight was in finals and Phillip Jackson of Miami (future fringe contender) was slated to be his opponent, but no result was posted in the local paper.

The date of the fight was October 22nd and was scheduled to take place at the Pompano Beach Multipurpose Center, Florida.

[JMac]

great job Bob!!!!

1988 PAL fight was in finals and Phillip Jackson of Miami (future fringe contender) was slated to be his opponent, but no result was posted in the local paper.

The date of the fight was October 22nd and was scheduled to take place at the Pompano Beach Multipurpose Center, Florida.

I was there and Tommy won but I don't remember what the decision was. I'm sure I have an old USA Boxing magazine with the results somewhere. Funny my son was wearing the T-shirt from that tournament yesterday...yeah it's old but he likes wearing old boxing T's. I got a whole drawer full of them.

[Caractacus]

Is it known exactly how many Toughman Contests that Tommy Morrison had entered from age 13 to ?
(I've read different accounts such as 15 or 21 contests or 33 contests)
I read somewhere he only lost once and also his mother held his spit-bucket for him at them.