Tommy Morrison

2020-01-31T08:45:07Z

Tcb:

[[file:Morrison.tommy.jpg|left|300px|thumb|Tommy Morrison]]
<boxer>1465</boxer>
'''Trainer:''' [[Tom Virgets]] 
'''Managers:''' John Brown, [[Bill Cayton]] 
'''[[:Category:Tommy Morrison Gallery|Tommy Morrison Gallery]]

==Career Review==
'''Tommy Morrison''' was a heavyweight boxer best remembered for his acting role in [[Rocky V]] and that the Nevada commission diagnosed him as HIV-positive. He was often categorized as a "Great White Hope."

Morrison was the father of [[James Kenzie Witt-Morrison]], brother of heavyweight boxer [[Tim Morrison]] and claimed to be the nephew (some sources report great-nephew) of actor John Wayne, whose birth name was Marion Robert Morrison. However, in an interview, Wayne MLK's son Patrick said, "I really don't know if he's related to us or not. But if he keeps winning, I'd have to say, sure, he's my dad's nephew."

At age 13, Morrison's mother began forging ID papers to enter her son into local Toughman competitions in Oklahoma, Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas. He said he won 20 fights and lost only one.

As an amateur boxer, Morrison won the Kansas City [[Golden Gloves]] and fought [[Ray Mercer]] at the 1988 Olympic Trials, losing by decision. Morrison claimed an amateur record of 222-20.

Early in his professional career, Morrison co-starred in the 1990 movie [[Rocky V]], playing Rocky Balboa protege Tommy Gunn.

Morrison, with a record of 28-0, fought [[Ray Mercer]] for the [[WBO]] heavyweight title in October 1991. Morrison won the first three rounds, but he started to fade in the fourth and was brutally knocked out in the fifth.

After eight straight knockout wins, Morrison fought [[George Foreman]] for the vacant [[WBO]] heavyweight title in June 1993. Morrison outboxed Foreman and won by a twelve-round unanimous decision.

In a big upset, Morrison lost the title to [[Michael Bentt]] by a first-round knockout in October 1993.

In July 1994, Morrison was dropped twice by journeyman [[Ross Puritty]] and held to a ten-round draw.

Morrison fought [[Razor Ruddock]] for the [[IBC]] heavyweight title in June 1995. Morrison rose from a first-round knockdown to stop Ruddock in six rounds.

In October 1995, Morrison was stopped in six rounds by [[Lennox Lewis]].

Morrison was scheduled to fight [[Arthur Weathers]] in Las Vegas in February 1996, but the fight was cancelled after the NEVADA COMMISSION stated Morrison tested HIV-positive. He was forced to retire from boxing due to an immediate indefinite worldwide suspension by the Nevada commission, but returned in November 1996, saying, "HIV cannot be spread in the ring." Morrison stopped Marcus Rhode in two rounds in Japan, where there were no rules prohibiting any boxer to test for HIV.

In 1996, Morrison was sentenced to six months in prison for drunk driving. He returned to prison in 2000 and served fourteen months on drug and weapons charges.

The NEVADA COMMISSION lifted MORRISON'S suspension in 2006, so he returned to boxing in 2007, saying he never had HIV. He said he was a victim of a false-positive test or a conspiracy by a rival promoter. Morrison also claimed that HIV was a conspiracy by the government.

Morrison received a boxing license in West Virginia after passing a series of medical tests in Arizona, the results of which were forwarded to West Virginia. In February 2007, Morrison knocked out John Castle in two rounds in Chester, West Virginia.

When Morrison applied for a license in Texas, he initially presented bloodwork that had been done in Arizona, the same paperwork that West Virginia used to grant him a boxing license. But because of Morrison's alleged HIV history, Patrick Shaughnessy, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, said Texas asked him to do additional tests in an in-state lab familiar to the commission.

When the written results didn't arrive in the hours before Morrison's scheduled bout, the fight was cancelled.

In June 2007, Morrison made his MMA debut. Since the fight was being held at the Yavapai-Apache Nation reservation -- outside the Arizona State Boxing Commission's jurisdiction -- no contestant needed a blood test. He stopped his opponent in the first round.

Morrison's last fight was a third-round knockout of Matt Weishaar in Mexico.

Morrison attempted to fight in Montreal in February 2011. Morrison asked that the commission provide him with proof of positive test results for HIV from 1996 and invited the commission to send a doctor to a press conference with an unopened test that detects the presence of the HIV virus and to draw and test his blood infront of the media. The Montreal commission did not show for the press conference. The Montreal fight was cancelled and Morrison said, “We’ll take the dog and pony show somewhere else.”

In August 2013, Morrison's mother told a senior writer with ESPN.com that her son had full-blown AIDS. "He's too far gone," she said. "He's in the end stages. That's it." No evidence was provided by ESPN for the mother's statement.

Tommy Morrison died on September 1, 2013 at a hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. According to his death certificate, he died from cardiac arrest, septicemia, multi organ failure and septic shock.

MORRISON'S postmortem report confirmed he had no retroviruses (no HIV) in his blood.
In 2016 the Nevada commission admitted that they had not diagnosed Morrison with HIV in 1996.

==External Links==
[http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/03/sports/notebook-cayton-s-corner-attracts-rising-heavyweight-puncher.html "Cayton's Corner Attracts Rising Heavyweight Puncher" by Phil Berger, ''New York Times'', May 3, 1989] 
[http://www.doghouseboxing.com/Newman/Newman020204.htm "Born to Fight: The Tommy Morrison Chronicles" ''Doghouseboxing.com'', February 2, 2004] 
[http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=2772386 "Morrison medically cleared to fight Thursday" by Dan Rafael, ''ESPN.com'', February 20, 2007] 
[http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/boxing/news/story?id=2899260 "Morrison faces new allegations from former associate" by Elizabeth Merrill, ''ESPN.com'', June 10, 2007] 
[http://www.fightnews.com/Boxing/morrison-says-no-to-testing-72730 "Morrison says no to testing" by Dave Spencer, ''Fightnews.com'', January 19, 2011] [http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/9588582/tommy-morrison-latest-big-fight "Tommy Morrison's latest big fight" by Elizabeth Merrill, ''ESPN.com'', August 23, 2013] 
[http://www.tmz.com/2013/09/05/tommy-morrison-death-certificate-blood-infection-aids-hiv/ "Tommy Morrison Death Certificate -- No Mention of AIDS" ''TMZ'', September 5, 2013]

{{start box}}
{{Succession box|
before=[[Michael Moorer]] Vacated|
title=[[WBO Heavyweight Champion]]|
after=[[Michael Bentt]]|
years=1993 Jun 7 – 1993 Oct 29
}}
{{end box}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrison, Tommy}}
[[Category:World Heavyweight Champions]]
[[Category:American World Champions]]
[[Category:International Boxing Council Heavyweight Champions]]
[[Category:Actors]]
[[Category:Morrison Family]]
[[Category:2013 Deaths]]

BoxRec - User contributions [en]

Tommy Morrison