Tommy Morrison

Tommy Morrison (January 2, 1969 – September 1, 2013) was an American professional boxer and mixed martial artist who competed from 1988 to 2009.

Tommy's father urged him to take up boxing in the 1970's. When Tommy was 13 years old, his mother used a fake ID and entered her son into 15 "toughman" contests (the minimum age for contestants was 21).

He later told The New York Times that he lost only one of these matches.

After graduating from high school in 1988, Morrison received a football scholarship to Emporia State University.

In the same year, Morrison won the Regional Heavyweight Title – Kansas City Golden Gloves from Donald Ellis and advanced to the National Golden Gloves in Omaha, Nebraska, where he decisioned Javier Alvarez in the preliminaries, decisioned Warren Williams in the quarterfinals, but lost a split decision to Derek Isaman in the semifinals.

Two weeks later, Morrison took part in the Western Olympic trials in Houston, Texas, defeating Robert Hargrove by a 4–1 majority decision in the semifinals, and John Bray by a 5–0 unanimous decision in the finals, and qualifying for the nationals, and garnering the "Outstanding Fighter" award of the tournament.

Two weeks after that, fighting out of Republic, Missouri, at the National Olympic Trials in Concord, California, July 6, 1988, Morrison lost a 0–5 unanimous decision to Ray Mercer, who went on to win the gold medal at the Seoul Olympics.

(They also had a prior match-up scheduled to be held June 16, 1988, at the Felt Forum, New York City, but no further information is available as to why it did not happen.)

As an amateur, Morrison claimed 222 fights (most of which were local match-ups), with the 1988 Olympic Trials being the top of his amateur career.

His amateur record is 202 wins, 20 losses.

Morrison started his professional boxing career on November 10, 1988, with a first-round knockout of William Muhammad in New York City.

Three weeks later, he scored another first-round knockout.

In 1989, Morrison had 19 wins and 0 losses, 15 by knockout.

That same year, actor Sylvester Stallone observed one of Morrison's bouts.

Stallone arranged a script reading and cast Morrison in the movie Rocky V as Tommy "The Machine" Gunn, a young and talented protege of the retired Rocky Balboa.

From December 8, 1989, until June 8, 1990, Morrison did not compete in a boxing match.

Morrison is also known for his acting career, having starred alongside Sylvester Stallone in the 1990 film Rocky V as Tommy Gunn.

Morrison took a six-month break from boxing to work on the movie in 1990.

Morrison's other boxing highlights include his fight with Ray Mercer in 1991, and with Donovan Ruddock in 1995.

That was due to both injuries and his involvement in the movie Rocky V. In 1991, Morrison won four bouts, including notable victories against opponents James Tillis, the first man to take Mike Tyson the distance, and former WBC heavyweight champion Pinklon Thomas.

Morrison was then given an opportunity to face fellow undefeated fighter Ray Mercer, the WBO title holder in a Pay Per View card held on October 18, 1991.

The fight was a matchup between two undefeated, up-and-coming heavyweights.

Initially, the bout was set to take place on August 9, but Morrison had to withdraw after suffering a deep cut while sparring.

Mercer contemplated facing a substitute opponent, but it was announced the following week that fight would be rescheduled for October 18.

Morrison got off to a great start, outboxing a sluggish Mercer through the first three rounds en route to taking all three rounds on all three of the judge's scorecards.

Mercer would end the fight only 28 seconds into the fifth round.

With Morrison backed up into the corner, Mercer was able to land a 15–punch combination.

Clearly hurt from the exchange, Morrison slumped against the ropes, but the referee allowed Mercer to land several more punishing blows to a now defenseless Morrison before finally ending the fight.

Morrison suffered the first loss of his career, losing by 5th-round knockout.

He had six wins in 1992, including fights with Art Tucker and Joe Hipp, who later became the first Native American to challenge for the world heavyweight title.

Best known for his left hook and formidable punching power, Morrison won the WBO heavyweight title in 1993 with a unanimous decision victory over George Foreman.

He lost the title in his second defense to Michael Bentt that same year.

He retired from boxing in 1996 after testing positive for HIV.

Morrison made a brief comeback to boxing from 2007 to 2008 when the Nevada commission lifted the indefinite worldwide suspension in July 2006, and briefly dabbled in the world of MMA.

As a mixed martial artist, he scored a notable first-round knockout win over Wyoming state heavyweight champion Corey Williams in 2009, which ultimately became the last fight Morrison ever had in combat sports before his final retirement due to his declining health that began in 2011.

In August 2013, Morrison's mother announced that her son was in the final stages of AIDS, and he died on September 1, 2013, at the age of 44 from sepsis, septic shock, multi-system organ failure and, ultimately, cardiac arrest.

Morrison was born in Gravette, Arkansas.

His mother, Diana, was Native American (half Ponca and half Otoe) and his father Tim was of Scottish ancestry.

Morrison was raised in Delaware County, Oklahoma, spending most of his teenage years in Jay.

His nickname, "The Duke", is based on the claim that he was a grand-nephew (or otherwise distant relative) of the Hollywood star John Wayne (né Marion Morrison).