Is Tommy Morrison overrated or underrated?

If you had to pinpoint exactly what it is that compels so many people into such a fervor over such a mediocre fighter, what would you say it is?

If people are that hard up and desperate for a hard hitting white heavyweight, I don't see why the likes of Kallie Knoetze & Gerry Coetzee don't have developed fan clubs constantly propping them up... The wonders of modern fighter marketing.

 

Rated about right I would say.

 

Well, he was American. They painted him blonde (even though him mother was Arapho). You had the tenuous John Wayne connection. And he did possess some eye-catching athleticism.

Weirdly, while waiting out our super storm yesterday, I did watch some early Tommy fights. It's noticeable how skinny and unjacked he was. Also his technique was really sloppy. He did improve quite a bit as he developed. Still had bad tendencies which he never erased. And whether through pec implants (was that a real thing?) or steroids, he did get jacked.

Tommy is ultimately a tragic story, a guy who had some real talent but got dealt a crappy situation as a youth.

 

What is the bar for being overrated or underrated? For the amount of attention he receives I would say overrated.
Definitely a fun guy to watch, his offensive game was made for the camera. Throw in the fact he had poor defense and poor stamina it really made for some fun watching.
He specialized on beating past prime fighters, kind of how Cooney’s team managed Gerry. However Cooney didn’t run into hiccups like Ray Mercer and Michael Bentt. Nor go life and death with guys like Hipp and Purrity.
Morrison had too many issues outside the ring and by time of Lewis fight had HIv. It’s a shame his career and life were cut tragically short. He did cram a lot of fights into a 26 year old body.

 

Better than these guys: Barrett, Alex Garcia, Savarese, Thunder.

Worse than these guys: Stiverne, Ibragimov, Rahman, Ruiz (both of them), Tubbs.

About the same: Austin, Briggs, Izon, Charles Martin, Botha, Schultz.

 

He's adequately rated.

 

I like Tommy, and make him a better h2h than I rate him as a heavyweight. On his best night, a unicorn night we likely never saw, he could box, he could move, he could bang and he had a heart the size of a pick up truck. What's not to like?

 

It’s true that steroids can cause cardiomyopathy.

 

He had a big heart!

No, seriously.... it was enlarged.

 

Overrated.

His lost significant achievement is being in Rocky.

 

Exciting fighter to watch. Kept active throughout his career. Fast hands. Excellent power. Had the heart to rise off the canvas. At his best he was a lower echelon top 10 contender but a good one. In a weaker era he’d likely attain higher status

 

Because they weren't American.

 

Underrated a little bit historically I feel. A lot of fans like to **** on his victory over Foreman but I thought he followed the game plan perfectly and did land some wicked combos in that one. Very legit title win and one of the very few times Morrison bit down and put forth a 100% effort and made the most of his talent. And that’s according to his trainers and family members.

The Duke that fought George is H2H very underrated. Would’ve been a problem for anyone. A few of those hooks he cracked George with drop 95% of heavyweights.

 

it is quite well rated. Glamorous, dangerous, dangerous for everyone, but too flawed to become an ATG. He was defeated very quickly, but he had some great moments earlier.