Morrison had quicker hands and he punched harder but Lyle would be able to deal with Morrison's power better than Morrison could deal with his. Morrison would have his moments in the early rounds but Lyle would take over, kinda like Mercer did, and eventually stop Morrison. Lyle KO9 Morrison
The aggressive Morrison gets caught with a good right hand counter, and he's on jelly legs. Lyle TKO 1.
People, Tommy only lost 3 fights out of close to 50 in an era of very hard punching heavies. He was only KO'd in the 1st once, when he returned to his hometown and partied like a rock star instead of trained. Foreman, Lewis and Ruddock didn't KO him in the 1st. Lyle is not going to, either.
-He may have shared an era with hard punching heavies but in nearly 50 fights didn't face many with a pulse and still proved to be vulnerable to frequent knockdowns with poor recovering abilities. -I'll give you Lewis as an example of Morrison demonstrating the possibile ability to survive a little bit with Lyle. But Lewis at this stage wasn't the type to jump on an injured puncher, he didn't force anything and let the knockdows come to him against Morrison. -TKO 1 might be hyperbole on my part, but I see this fight ending as soon as Morrison gets caught with the big right..which won't take very long. Morrison won't be KOed by one shot, but Lyle will jump on him after every knockdown. I can't see Morrison digging in and brawling it out like Foreman did.
The best fighter Lyle ever finished was the chinny Shavers, not exactly the stuff of legend... or perhaps in these parts it is.
The Duke hasn't demonstrated more durability and recoup abilities than Shavers, in fact I would say on average he might have been more "chinny." Regardless, Lyle was aggressive when he had his man hurt, I can't see Morrison fighting his way out of trouble like Foreman or Quarry. When guys put punches together against Morrison he had a hard time getting away from them.
Think it was Round 1 or 2, when Lyle rattled Foreman's bell with that big right. Foreman stayed on his feet and toughed it out but that's the type of shot that will have Morrison doing a Bentt all over again.
It's not hard to imagine Morrison having his moments early and probably dropping Lyle, but whenever Ron hurts Tommy the fights over for me, probably before the 6th.
Lyle by KO anywhere from the 4th to the 8th they obviously will exchange bombs and the more durable man will win
I lean towards Lyle, but I think this would be a crowd pleasing fight. Two guys who liked to mix it up and had a lot of heart. Good match.