Do you think Morrison was underrated as a boxer? He was a former champion and only had THREE losses. People really don't discuss him with the other greats. Sad that his life had to end with the virus. So, what are your opinions on Morrison?
He had decent boxing skills, good speed and power, some nice combinations, but was chinny and had shaky stamina. He was also inconsistent with his training and as we all know, didn't live the healthiest lifestyle. I'd pick him over some of the title-holders in recent years, but probably wouldn't hold the title long before he suffered a loss like he did against Bentt, or went thru hell against Williams and Purrity. The guy had heart though, I give him a ton of credit for the Hipp fight. He won with a BROKEN JAW and a BROKEN HAND. Rocky 5 is on TV right now. I'm still not sure how I feel about the flashback scene with Mickey and how similar it was to the interview with Tyson and Cus. I think Stallone has said that's where he got the inspiration, but it seemed like it was just too similar, practically word-for-word
Tommy under-rated in my opinion. Probably b/c the HIV scare halted his career at its peak. Had a questionable chin to be fair but had great power and was never in a dull fight.
Great comment re rocky 5. Sly took it from the cus interview and it is word for word. I remember hearing he was sued by the estate of Cus. Not sure how this was settled.
I don't know about it being at his peak. He had survived a life-and-death bout with Ross Purrity and drew. He beat Razor Ruddock (how the hell did Razor get up from that left hook?), but he was completely dominated and outclassed by Lennox Lewis. There's of course no shame in losing to Lewis, but it seemed like he was quicker and more fluid with his combos a couple years earlier. Morrison was up-and-down for much of his career so it may kind of hard to figure out when we was at his peak. He was certainly at his earnings potential peak though, scheduled to fight Tyson. Damn, I never heard about that.
or Tyson was lucky in '96. If Peter McNeeley bounced a solid left hook off the top of Tyson's head just imagine what Morrison would have done to him. Tyson would not have trained hard enough for the fight and Morrison probably would have pulled out all stops for that one.
Plus, he'll always be worty of credit and praise for his career best effort in outpointing George Foreman...beforte the miracle man put Michael Moorer to sleep to regain the title. Morrison fought an intelligent, disciplined and effective fight...he used a great strategy for this win.