How far would Tommy Morrison have gone if he wasn't caught for aids in 1996?

Tommy Morrison was David Tua with a weak chin. His career never recovered from the Bentt lose. His chin would be his downfall against a 1996 Mike Tyson.

 

That's an interesting point. He said himself that he didn't want to be seen as the next Great White Hope, especially since his mother was Native American, I believe Cherokee, and that being seen as such if he lost a fight, he was viewed with more criticism.

 

For a reasonably young man in boxing terms he was done. Too many fights (nearly 50 fights at heavyweight by age 26/27) and lack of training/ focus outside the ring. Payday vs Tyson then probably fighting into obscurity throughout his 30s. I think If the Michael Bentt loss didn't happen he could have kept his momentum up and been better. He went downhill quickly after that fight.

 

If you followed his career, his inactivity periods were due to surgeries. And he had a ton of them. So a guy with the amount of surgeries Morrison had needs to be a defensive wizard. And that is certainly something he was not.

 

I think your initial post sums everything up, OP. He did what he could.

 

LOL

He was hyped big time and got plenty of opportunities. White heavyweights who can fight have advantages. Maybe he was teased as a kid for being a white boxer, but in the pros he benefited because of his race.

 

Seamus seems to have an ax to grind on Morrison. I'm not sure why. Tommy was an exciting fighter with a real puncher's chance vs anyone, and because he had a bad chin and shaky stamina, he also gave lesser opponents a chance to upset. He was seldom in a boring fight.

Not exactly an elite talent, he did have an elite hook, very good hand speed, and a killer body shot.

I view Morrison as a top 75-100 type of heavyweight. Not bad, and let's keep it real, he fought at a time when the divison's talent was very good.

 

Sadly and ironically, his mother is Native American... Arapaho, if I remember correctly.

 

Distinguishes sometime in the late 90s after another big fight or two... and might linger around into the early 2000s as an "opponent" high level journeyman type.

 

What kind of surgeries?

 

he'd have gone on to catch HIV in 97, being an utter idiot.

 

I dunno, loads of angles you can go with and to be honest I've agreed with most the posts I've read even though they are contradictory to one another.

I'll say this though, like him or hate Tommy Morrison had some of the sickest line of sight phantoms in the game.

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Harder to see the exact trajectory of his punches from the inside than say Mike or David. Both Tua and Tyson are going to use speed and body movement more than Morrison. So they present more of a can you keep up sort of problem. Tommy uses good old fashion look at my left so I can stick you with the right.

I know from the outside it just looks like he's big and hits hard as **** and there isn't much else to figuring out his devastating KOs, but I promise there is. Tommy was pretty damn good all things considered.

 

Tommy was a kill or killed type of fighter exciting but not destined for.a long career.A fight with Tyson would of been a huge hype train and a massive payday for Tommy and a devastating KO loss .unfortunately I can imagine Tommy pissing all his money up the wall and having to make numerous comebacks .I doubt Tommys storie would end well Punchy? In jail ? OD? Aids latter? Who knows .But I think Tommy was that type of guy.
Sad end to a flawed but brave chap.

 

The media hype on any next great white hope in the USA is incredible with
the media desperate for the next Rocky Marciano. It became too much for
Jerry Quarry and Gerry Cooney. So i say compared to these two TM
did extremely well as he ducked no one and took all challengers head on.

 

Quarry didn't duck anyone. ( Ali, Frazier, Norton, Patterson, Lyle, Chuvalo, Shavers, M. Foster ) For a while Quarry was among the best in the world and beat some of the best in the world. Some say Foreman ducked Quarry!

IMO, Quarry > Morrison though I'd give Morrison a better chance to beat an elite level fighter thanks to his power.