Dude was a walking pharmacy and still got man-handled by the likes of Ross Purity and Ray Mercer. Tell them about his big power, he couldn't even slow either of them down, nor 100 year old Foreman. Morrison's entire career was smoke and mirrors. He was a glorified club fighter and couldn't take a punch to save his life.
My logic was flawed in my original comment, but I'll still go ahead and name 4 guys whose careers overlapped Morrison's, who stopped legit Top 5-10 guys at the time they fought: Lennox Lewis: Rahman, Grant, Briggs, Golota, Grant, Bruno, and Ruddock. Botha was at least a fringe guy at the time Lewis blasted him as well. Wlad Klitschko: Pulev, Thompson x2, Chambers, Brock, Byrd. Perhaps Barrett as well, but I don't recall how highly ranked he was at that time. Foreman: Frazier, Norton, Moorer, Lyle. Tyson: Berbick, Biggs, Bruno, Williams, Stewart, Ruddock, and Bruno x2. Thomas and Tubbs, though not quite prime, were highly ranked, and had never been stopped. Spinks had the Lineal title and was undefeated when Mike smashed him. The reason my logic was flawed, there were other factors that led to the fighters above having success against actual ranked fighters from their day. Each were better all around fighters than Morrison, who had power but not much else, which has already been pointed out by others on this thread. Earnie Shavers, who many consider the single hardest puncher of all time, might have an even weaker resume than Morrison when it comes to stopping top guys of his day. I really don't see much at all for him when it comes to that, but he clearly had massive power. Both Ali & Holmes listed him as the hardest puncher they've ever faced. Same with Ruddock, whom I considered a massive puncher. He scored highlight reel KOs over lower level guys, and past it types like Dokes and Page, but not much else off the top of my head. Kind of hard to place Morrison when ranking him among all time punchers. I think he's at least a level below Tyson, Foreman, Lewis, Klitschko, Wilder, Shavers, and the like, but it's not the easiest thing to prove.
Morrison did actually win the WBO belt vs. Foreman, and defended against Tim Tomashek, who literally came out of the crowd to fight Morrison when Mike Williams refused to leave his dressing room, according to Boxrec.
He refused to take a pre-fight drug test, according to this... https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-08-31-sp-29591-story.html
Morrison is an example of discipline and focus being skills that you can lack. He could throw a left hook as well and powerfully as anyone and he could gut through fights with anybody who couldn't KO him but could still hurt him tremendously. He wasn't easy to deter, even when he was really suffering. But he was like a Gatti, when it came to using his boxing skills against someone he was more skilled than but hurt him a little or tempted him too much into a dogfight, he almost never could stay cool. He wanted that smoke. If you hurt him, he wanted to war with you because he trusted his power more than his boxing, I think. He did have skills. But using them when you need them is a mental skill. He didn't have that. And his chin was not a good insurance policy for lack of discipline and focus. Unlike, it maybe was for Tua at times. Ross walked through round after round after round of the best punches Wlad ever threw. Mercer has mentioned plenty of respect for Morrison's power when he was asked. I didn't even know it was a question he was a huge puncher to anyone who wasn't trolling. If it's one thing I can't stand...it's trolls.
Probably the best example for the term "glass cannon" Usually very fun to watch. And yes, he clearly hit very hard you don't have to KO a top guy to prove that.
Tommy Morrison didn't stop or hurt durable opponents so there is little evidence of his power. With Mike Tyson we have plenty of examples of him stopping guys who were extremely hard to stop like Berbick and Holmes. There's nothing like that on Morrison's resume. If you consider someone like Derek Chisora a huge puncher than maybe Morrison qualifies but most don't.
