Why did Morrison look so slow vs Lewis?

They'd put him on a diet of sea oats to make his pecs effulgent. One of the many reasons I don't rate Lewis that highly.

 

Really??
Should we start going to him with our medical issues then mate?

 

I don't know how much HIV affected Morrison, or if it even did, but he looked terrible in the fight with Bennt, terrible against Purrity, which he should have lost, and not any better in the fight with Ruddock, which was entertaining and made many fans believe Morrison was back. But he wasn't the same fighter since Mercer. Let's also remember that before the fight with Lewis, Morrison had been on the floor a dozen times, and the fight with Ray itself was worse than a few knockouts. There could be many reasons, another one being that Lewis was in his absolute prime and better than Morrison's previous opponents. A cumulative effect.

 

The elephant in the room is Lennox. He was a lot faster and quicker at that lighter weight.

 

Morrison was notorious for training on Budweiser and Marlboros and lacking common sense everywhere else when it came to self-care. A hedonistic child in a man's body unfortunately. Not surprising that the lifestyle dwarfed his genetic athletic gifts.

 

Rewatched to refresh my memory and Tommy doesn’t look slow so much as reluctant.

He said coming in that it would be foolish to try to outbox Lennox, which was correct, and that he needed to make it a slugfest/shootout. But he didn’t have the minerals to go for broke and play rock-em-sock-em robots with Lewis.

Instead he stayed at a bad range (often where Lennox could reach him but he couldn’t hit Lewis back) and simply did not throw much. There are a few quick combos by the Duke sprinkled in, usually body shots, and a few decent singular head shots … but nothing sustained.

I think he tasted Lewis’ power early and thought the better of going toe to toe … which was only real chance.

 

I still think the elephant in the room is that Morison had a number of pro boxing fights while HIV positive. They didn't test for anything then.

Karl Malone didn't feel comfortable with Magic Johnson coming back to play in the NBA and he didn't have to box him.

 

It’s speculation as to whether Morrison was already suffering from the affects of his condition; it can’t be ruled out, but also can’t be stated with any certainty.

That said, I don’t think we need to be digging for too many reasons as to why Lewis outclassed Morrison. At virtually any point in their career its most probably a dominant win for Lewis, save the one punch equalizer that Morrison did possess and Lewis could be vulnerable to. It’s a battle of punchers, but also where the much bigger guy has a superior delivery system and a better chin to boot.

The only surprise when the fight did happened was that it was an accumulation style dismantling stoppage, rather than a highlight reel blowout. I think that shows how disciplined a fight Lewis executed, and also that he clearly did respect Morrison’s power.

 

I know a lot of those guys that unbeaten Morrison fought were hardly world beaters, but he certainly had speed and power.
He was beating Mercer I think, till Ray khtfo

 

I don't know what 'effulgent' means but if it's good, I'm it.