Was Tommy Morrison

Neither, he did about the best he could. He was a glass canon. He probably does about the same in this era as he did in the 90s. Maybe Dillian Whyte level.

 

Apparently he was an underachiever. The stories are that all night, every night, he would stay out drinking, smoking and doing drugs until he passed out on the barroom floor and his team had to find him and pick him up, and that does not even include his legendary sexual appetite.

I don't give him a pass on that...character matters, period. At the end of the day, the guy was basically a bum who struggeld with Ross Purity, Joe Hip, and shot Carl Williams. But those who knew him said the talent was there.

 

Cali.

Though I don't agree with the politics here, I was California born, and California bred, and when I die, I'll die California dead.

 

I think he would’ve had a few more B- and C level wins if he was focused throughout his career, doubt he would be elite in any era though.

 

Morrison had all the potential and backing needed to possibly be the top guy in the heavyweight division, but like many before and after him wasn't fully dedicated to boxing, so he often under performed and ultimately underachieved in his overall career.

He was managed by both John Brown and Bill Cayton, who were both very experienced in handling fighters and they did their best to get the most out of Morrison, but Morrison often ignored their instructions and advice.

His trainer was Tommy Virgets, who before handling Morrison was mostly an amateur coach, but that said had trained a lot of service boxers and also handled Morrison’s diet and conditioning.

Here is a piece in the early 90’s on Morrison.

“Tommy Morrison is not lacking for big-time connections.

The heavyweight is co-managed by John Brown and Bill Cayton. You remember Cayton. With his partner, Jimmy Jacobs, Cayton astutely guided Mike Tyson to the heavyweight title in 1986.

Brown owns Ringside Products, a thriving boxing equipment company in Lenexa, Kan. A Neophyte Trainer

It's not as if his managers hadn't the money to hire an experienced professional trainer for the undefeated (28-0, 24 knockouts) Morrison, who gained a wider audience recently when he co-starred opposite Sylvester Stallone in "Rocky V."

So how did Tommy Virgets, who never trained a professional fighter before, end up in charge of Morrison? And just who is he?

Virgets, 40 years old, is a former amateur boxer who was a varsity wrestler and runner at Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, La., and then went into coaching and sports administration on the college level. His resume:

1976-79: wrestling coach at the University of Tennessee-Chatanooga.

1979-84: boxing coach at Virginia Military Institute.

1984-86: boxing coach at the United States Naval Academy.

As an amateur boxing coach with a Ph.D. in exercise physiology, Virgets was seen by Brown as just the man to refine Morrison's body and diet. That was how, in 1989, Morrison landed in Carrollton, Ga., where Virgets was by then athletic director at West Georgia College.

"He was a little fat boy," Virgets said of the fighter. "He had 23 percent body fat and weighed 209 pounds. Tommy's idea of breakfast was Twinkies and a Coca Cola." 'This Is the Way'

The reconstituted diet he gave Morrison became part of a high-tech training regimen -- running, weight lifting, aerobic conditioning -- Virgets put Morrison through.

"Tommy's from Jay, Okla., where he'd never had organized training," said Virgets. His idea of training was for his brother and him to hit the heavy bag a few rounds on the porch and then run over to the local bar and see if anybody wanted to spar."

As Virgets was getting acquainted with Morrison, Brown was becoming convinced that his own role as overseer of his fighter's training had hit an impasse.

"Tommy and I had a father-son kind of relationship, and I thought he required and would do better with a teacher," said Brown. "My way was very matter of fact, cold: 'This is the way I want you to do it.' Tommy Morrison likes to have things explained. He wants give and take, and his intake. It was making for a stressful situation."

When a trial period with Tyson's former trainer, Kevin Rooney, did not work out, Brown and Cayton decided to give the trainer's job to Virgets in December 1990.

While Virgets has brought a Ph.D.'s knowledge of the latest in training methods to the job, he doesn't mind pushing himself through the same workouts he designs for his athletes. At V.M.I., for example, Virgets not only trained with his fighters to motivate them but, on one occasion, entered an amateur tournament with them and, at age 32, fought for the first time in about five years. Participatory Approach

"I cut my weight from 172 to 139 for the tournament," said Virgets. "I won my first fight, then lost the next one to a guy named Body Shop Johnson, who came off one of the Navy ships."

He has taken a similar participatory approach with Morrison.

"I do all the running, all the lifting and Stairmasters, neck work, rope climbing and hand grips," said Virgets. "Anything I can do with him, I feel it helps."

The 221-pound Morrison's body fat is now down to around 6 percent. And while Brown says Morrison is a smarter, more elusive boxer than he was before Virgets, critics point to Morrison's April match against the Latvian fighter Yuri Vaulin, as proof that he's nothing special.

That night, Morrison looked easy to hit and was amateurish in trying to set up his best punch, the left hook. While he eventually landed blows that made the left-handed Vaulin quit, that didn't override the poor impression he made. Bothered by Physical Problems

Virgets said Morrison went into the fight with physical problems.

"The muscles of the calves were too large for the compartments that housed them," said Virgets. "Against Vaulin, Tommy's ankles would roll because he wasn't getting an adequate blood supply. The muscles that control the ankles were becoming fatigued. After the bout he had surgery on both legs."

The margin for excuses will diminish as Morrison advances through the ranks. On Oct. 18 he fights Ray Mercer in a bout that should clarify how good a fighter Morrison is and, not coincidentally, the sort of trainer Virgets is.
https://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/19/sports/boxing-notebook-so-who-is-this-tommy-virgets.html

 

Mercer was just the wrong guy for Morrison. A motivated Mercer had the chin, power, and stamina to give Morrison serious problems every time. Tommy could have fought a little smarter in that fight, but i still think Mercer would have stopped him later in the fight no matter who was training Tommy (same goes for Morrison-Lewis).

I do believe however that Morrison could've/should've beaten Bentt. Morrison was just completely careless that night, probably underestimating Bentt, got nailed and never recovered. He likely would have eventually got his left hand on Bentt's shaky chin had he taken his time and picked his spots a little better.

So aside from potentially flipping the L to a W against Bennt, I'm guessing Morrison accomplished what he was capable of. Chin issues and questionable stamina limited his potential.

 

Tommy Morrison could fight. People like to **** on him just like they do Gerry Cooney. Morrison like Cooney had a ton of potential that was never realized due to personal demons and drinking/drugs. Morrison was never in a boring fight and either knocked someone out or got knocked out. He was a Glass Jawed fighter with savage power and a huge heart he just never put it all together.