I always thought that if Ross had had a bit of an amateur career, a great trainer and promoter, that we might be talking about him together with the greats of that period. A big, big dude, and tough and strong as nails. His ring strategy and techique let him down though.
Ross was never gonna be the best or above what he was ...which was a tougher then 3 inch steel piece of old grissle wartorn fighting dog ...he was the black rocky had rocky never went passed 1 ...you coulda doctored him up got him all the help in the world and I dont think it woulda made much a difference ..and theres no shame in that he was a tough tough bad piece of business but limited
He took some major shots against Vitasli and stayed in there. took some big shots against Wlad as well. The interesting fight was him against Sanders. Corrie was actually in top shape and fought a smart disciplined fight. The Morrison bout was a gift to Tommy. Geez, once an opponent got Morrison even the slightest fatigued, he sure got sloppy
He was what he was - a bum/journeyman. A HW Carl the Cat Thomson , only worse. Sanders mopped the floor with and so did a 19-0 Micheal Grant. Klitschko fanboys talk him up cos he knocked out their Overlord. Otherwise they wouldn't give a rats ass about him.
He was no bum, but he was a journeyman in the classic meaning. Often caught in the catch 22 of survival rather than going for the win, as mentioned sometimes he lacked effort in fights. But when motivated you had to be a very good heavyweight fighting at or near your best to win.
I fail the see the point of the title of the video. The first super heavyweight? Neither Wladimir or Ross were the biggest heavyweights doing that time.
Between 94 and 98, Morrison, Wlad, Joe Hipp, and Jorge Luis Gonzalez were brought in to beat Purrity and he went 3-0-1 against then. All of his loses at that time came to decent fighters in Grant, Donald, Byrd, and Rahman. The bottom line is that he'd beat David Price and possibly Hughie Fury.
I rember a few of his fights were on Eurosport back in the day and I think that is how he got his UK following
Dont know too many"bums" that knockout a Klitchsko at a time he was unbeaten. God I hate when people call professional boxers that.