"The Original White Hope" had a great reputation and Dempsey, Fulton, McCarty and many others gained great kudos by beating him but was he any good?
Slow moving and powerful. Ko'd a former champ in Hart. Sometimes a dirty fighter. Definately one of the top 10 pr so contenders in his time
Hart was finished. Smith, Dillon, McCarty, Willard, Coffey were all better. Flynn also. Add in the top black fighters and you're up on ten. That's without touching Moran, Levinsky, Carpentier, Palzar, Fulton, Wells and several others.
I think Morris was your classic big & slow fighter with limtied skills, but a good punch. The more skilled boxers, or the better punchers usally beat him. Carl Morris News reads: Vs Jim Schreck: [url]http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D0CE5DB1439E333A2575AC2A9659C946096D6CF[/url] Vs Fireman Flynn [url]http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9401E6DA1131E233A25755C1A96F9C946096D6CF[/url] Vs Jess Willard: [url]http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=990DEEDA103FE633A25757C0A9649D946296D6CF[/url] Vs Jim Stewart: [url]http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9402E1D9143CE633A25752C2A9659C946396D6CF[/url]
Grin. Actually it seems so obivious to me that he was /is vastly overated that I must be missing something so I threw this out to all you great minds. You know how it is, you zone in on a fighter you dont know a lot about and after a period of research you generally come away with an improved opinion of him. However in Morris's case the opposite happened to me.
He owes his profile in part to the fact that he was the best fighter to emerge from the white hope trials at least while Johnson was champion. Perhaps he is the Gerry Cooney of his era.
Morris improved as a fighter late in his career, but he was still a plodding, mauling taverne brawler who didn't mind dishing out the rough stuff inside. Had a fair chin. Might have made the top 20. He was a name simply because he'd been around so long.
Not necisarily on paper. Morris like Cooney fell far short of what was hoped for him but did round up a few names.
Can you read the links this time Ring Rat? I think they expire after a while. All of the reads are in PDF, which is why I perfer to use a link rahter than to upload or convert them to word, then post them here.
