#TOMMY MORRISON #THE DARKEST SECRET IN BOXING HISTORY #DOCUMENTARY #ENGLISH
to all my young fans out there i'd ask that you no longer see me as a role model but see me as an individual that had the opportunity to be a role model and blew it and blew it meet tommy morrison the most popular kid in school captain of every sports team he entered adored by hundreds of friends and especially the females a big talker he's not all show he's really i mean even he looked he even looked like the guy in his car although he was only in his mid-teens he was already a famous face in a small county of delaware his father tim was a boxer just like his father before him and just like his old man before him in fact the morrison name is one that has been recognized in the local area for close to 100 years he's too strong he's a very good man and all the voices i know everybody you know and they're just too strong too big known for their charming looks and muscular physique they use their natural builds to compete in damn near every tough man boxing contest in southern america and young tommy was no exception the only difference between tommy and his forefathers was in these clips you're looking at he's only 13 years old and while many years below the legal limit to fight he is so incredibly advanced for his age he forged a fake id just to compete and quite frankly went on to destroy men that were twice his age all i do is block him i go to bed thinking about it i wake up thinking about it outside of his athletic ability tommy was also a bright pupil and was left in a predicament once graduation approached he had the choice of pursuing an academic career or following in his father's footsteps as a boxer a hard decision to make for many but an easy one for tommy i'm tommy the duke morrison a heavyweight with 24 knockouts and i'm going to the top during the mid to late 80s boxing had entered a golden age mike tyson was the most feared man on the planet elite contenders were starting to rise in lennox lewis and evander holyfield the rocky movies had taken the film world by storm and everyone and their grandmother had a poster of sylvester stallone on their bedroom wall truly an incredible time for the fighting art want to ring the bell all right ding ding and behind every great professional is a great amateur and while tyson was obliterating top contenders in the pro ranks a stocky white kid with a mullet was doing a similar job with the headguards on well it's just gonna say simple simple he hit you at the left hook he's gone from 1985 to 1988 tommy had amassed a huge record of 290 wins with 21 losses and a staggering 263 knockouts an outrageous puncher's record and while most were against other local fighters in the delaware area he did eventually make his way to the big leagues when he competed in the seoul olympic trials infamously losing a narrow decision to rising star and later rival merciless ray mercer who ended up proving himself as the cream of the crop as he captured the gold medal just a few months later the way things are going right now it's hard telling who's going to be the next heavyweight champion in the world but i tell you what i will be a heavyweight champion as well some boxing fans out so glorious despite having a large fan base before his pro career it even begun tommy remained grounded with an attitude to gradually fight his way to the top my main goal in life is to be able to take care of my parents you know if it wasn't for them i wouldn't be here to start with he made his debut on a small hall event in new york scoring a first round knockout and from here on it was very clear that tommy was a special power puncher particularly with the left hook as he was known for being able to close the distance in an instant with a fast leaping left hand it wasn't long before espn came knocking at the door asking for tommy to feature on tuesday night fights a great platform for any young fighter looking to build a fan base while still taking on slightly lower journeyman and their divisions that's going to make me basically a household name that's going to make people take me as a real fighter of course morrison jumped at the chance and was soon matched up with the 1906 jessie shelby on august 22nd 19. this is kind of a crossroads fight for jesse shelby jesse yes and tommy morrison remains unbeaten you guys seemed like i was just a step off you know the first part through the first round and second round but once i got adjusted to it i think thanks uh things went my way i like to thank espn and top rank for having me here okay a quick report card from bill caton after 15 fights what do you see bill i think tommy is on his way he's still learning but he's improving from fight to fight soon after the bout frank stallone recalled his brother sylvester was looking for a young muscular athlete to play the character tommy gunn in the latest upcoming rocky movies after witnessing morrison on tuesday night fights he quickly informed his brother that this young power puncher from oklahoma might just be the guy he's looking for a movie producer heard about tommy and decided that since his grand uncle was john wayne that acting as well as fighting was in his blood less than a week later they had already begun filming despite the movie arguably being the worst in the series tommy received praise from many critics due to the fact he had never acted in any sort of capacity beforehand and did a relatively good job in bringing tommy gun to life okay so which will it be will you go for the acting career or you go for the heavyweight championship well i'm going to get to every championship first and then uh then we'll we'll work on the other however acting wasn't tommy's forte he was a boxer and now with a brand new younger fan base he couldn't wait to get back in the ring and continue his road to the title i got a job to do and i plan on doing it quickly tommy has a hell of a left hook he's got a great left hook period in the paragraph fight after fight knockout after knockout the now 22 year old morrison couldn't put a foot wrong he blasted out many of the same faces mike tyson did a couple years prior the former world champion pinkland thomas couldn't make it past one round the tricky slickster james quick tillis met the same fate a month prior steve zowski lorenzo boyd and david jacko were others tyson faced and tommy had steamrolled down and probably out the big fight was on the tip of everyone's tongue tommy morrison versus mike tyson now watching big shot bill cage is ruling tommy for a shot at heavyweight champion mike tyson and it could be the grudge match of the century the style clash was undoubtedly going to gel well for the fans both were undefeated and both were big knockout punchers and it certainly wasn't an idea tommy was shying away from a lot of people are pretty satisfied with saying hey you know i fought for the heavyweight championship we don't want to fight for it we want to fight for it and win it he's there when i get buried don't have to be removed just before the morrison and tyson fight came into fruition buster douglas shocked the world with a historic upset over the seemingly unbeatable tyson landing almost 30 years has passed since that night in tokyo and still to this day it's regarded as the biggest upset not just in boxing but in world sports history boxing you never know what to expect i mean and if you don't believe me you can ask mike tyson a few months later tommy enter the most significant bout of his career repeat a revenge morrison vs mercer 2. on the line the wbo heavyweight championship of the world ray i'm ready three years on from their clash in the olympic trials tommy had a chance to set things straight as he matched up in a widely speculated 50 50 showdown with now 17-0 professional ray mercer no mercy mercer had shown a lot in the way of promise himself during the build-up to this contest not quite the flashy power puncher like morrison but a rough and tough resilient brawler nevertheless it's over and there's the big one that was the one who put him to sleep and that's the one more oh no that tommy morrison belongs in boxing ray mercer is the wbo heavyweight champion careful early tommy starts very fast he has a lot to prove and he'll try to do that in a quick fashion ray mercer defending his title opening neither a defensive whiz so you know there will be openness morrison out of it gets that referee by morrison you have to make him quit and so far it has been morrison big in the first two rounds morrison was in a greater shape of his career the timing and speed of his combos during the first two rounds were breathtaking mercer was known for having a chin of iron but to walk through the onslaught of tommy shots the way he did elevated everyone's respect third round keying off on mercer take so many shots and now mercer puts a couple of rights together remember he left morrison with a right hand as a gift to end the third round by the end of the fourth round tommy's mouth was wide open struggling to breathe his game plan was obviously to blast mercer out inside three and in retrospect it was a huge oversight considering the strength he possessed mercer made it pay for it as in his 27 percent pounding away morrison may be going harrison is gone here he is just connected with shots unanswered punches out on his feet and hurt is tommy the duke morrison a lot of shots from merciless ray mercer [Music] the loss was a tough one to swallow and tommy went from the hottest prospect in world boxing to a man with a gray and bleak future after all if he couldn't beat ray mercer the weakest regarded champion in the division how on earth could he compete with the likes of lennox lewis and mike tyson after the mercer fight i took about probably three months off stayed completely away from the gym kind of did a little bit of soul searching perhaps the old cliche of the great white hope would surround tommy's name from here on out but then over the next few months a surprising revelation [Music] [Music] so [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Music] the bouts that he would easily win as a sober man became just that [ __ ] and tommy morrison summons some power today and it saves him in the night round i think i learned a lot from this joey is one of one of the hardest punches i've ever fought i look at it as a plus you know i got like a hit a little bit too much defense is something that we felt like we always had to work on something that hasn't been a secret so we're real happy about it well you came through with tommy the late ground knockout congratulations to you thanks very much for talking to us [Music] power punching come back for tommy morrison after defeating carl the truth williams in january 1993 tommy put himself in line for a lucrative title shot against the immovable object that is big george format probably didn't have the greatest training habits in the world but i've matured as an athlete feel very comfortable with where i'm at i actually this time i feel like i belong here yeah he's probably all the things he's got going for him you know better for him and then i've got a few things going for me mostly 256 pounds i'm going to use those pounds too foreman was midway through his comeback after 10 years away from the sport he obviously wasn't considered to be the threat he was in the mid 70s still there was no denying the big man could take an almighty punch well his arms do seem to be getting a little he's got a lot of experience he's got a lot of weight and he's got a lot of age and i've got to try to counterbalance that with youth speed and athletic [Music] ability [Music] despite big george being the 7 to 5 betting favorite june 7th 1996 became the glowing highlight of morrison's career from the opening round he made the older man look ancient as he carefully maneuvered around the ring evading the slow but dangerous attacks his defensive prowess complemented his razor sharp combination counters as he never gave foreman a millisecond to recuperate from his errors morris is breathing with his mouth open as we begin damage there it is again tremendous left hook by tommy morrison low blow from right i thought tommy morrison fought a very intelligent fight stuck with his plan and i think he deserves full credit for a victory i expect he's gonna get jerry roth scores about 118 to 109 for the winner and new champion tommy [Music] once morrison became world champion notable changes in his appearance and performance became apparent to all within just an 18-month period he appeared to age by five or six years slightly losing his boyish looks and muscular physique along the way he also no longer possessed those fast twitch muscle fibers from before the power remained but tommy relied on a speed just as much as his strength which inevitably resulted in some shocking losses and one-sided beatdowns despite the poor run of form promotional superstar don king stepped in and offered morrison a life-changing retirement package three fights 10 million dollars with a guarantee of a mike tyson showdown to end it all a very lucky out to put it lightly don king accepts the contract we're ready to have the warm-up arthur stormy weathers was the first man penciled in for tommy a low-level journeyman with little to no chance in causing an upset nothing more than a tune-up to get the ball rolling for morrison's comeback but in the days leading up to the bout an unusual headline surfaced tommy morrison was supposed to fight tonight in las vegas but the duke was ko'd by the nevada athletic commission just hours before his scheduled bout with arthur weathers morrison's suspended worldwide for medical reasons tommy's reasons for avoiding the blood test just didn't make sense he claimed he was scared of needles but every boxer knows that excuse simply won't be enough to avoid such a key and important part of the sport take your freaking blood test well you told me not to do anything unless you were here you know don wanted me to say tommy take your blood test that's for the commission morrison had no choice but to take the test or be stripped of his license and for his love of the game and faith in god he took the test knowing full well the results could end his career and perhaps even his livelihood i've taken action to have more extensive tests run i was informed just a little while ago that uh those tests do in fact confirm that i have tested positive for the hiv virus morrison was subsequently suspended from the sport having the hiv virus in any sort of combat sport runs a huge risk of transmission blood and saliva often trade places during a bout and the nevada state athletic commission made the right decision in instantly revoking his license but was it something that they should have done sooner perhaps seven years sooner to be more precise dating right back to the days and months in which he first turned professional and then it announced that he could not pass this physical and i knew what it was we had talked about this before talked about what the hiv he knew before he's suspicioned morrison's own mother admitted that tommy knew to some degree he had the virus long before failing the test in 1996 and in 2016 court papers were released suggesting tommy had been diagnosed hiv-positive all the way back in 1989. when morrison's ex-wife don brady was questioned for the upcoming lawsuit in a sworn deposition she said that he had told her in 2000 that he tested positive for hiv in 1989 when he got checked out as part of a screening for a life insurance policy morrison confirmed this himself when he went into rehab in 1999 and the counselor during his intake wrote that he claims that he was first told he was hiv positive in 1989. we do have to add that the claims made are alleged but the amount of evidence to suggest he was hiding the virus for many years is overwhelming [Music] once morrison contracted the virus his whole life changed the town where he was once known as a hero turned their back on him most of his close friends never even bothered to offer some sort of sympathy he was alone and scared my first reaction was what are people going to think you know i mean here i am a supposed to be a big tough guy and and i think i walked around in life thinking that i was bulletproof and now i gotta pay the ultimate price [Music] shortly after his public press conference lakers legend and five-time nba champion magic johnson contacted morrison to try and help him through this hard time and offered him some valuable advice johnson as i'm sure many of you are aware contracted the virus himself just a few years prior to this incident and has since become a main advocate in spreading awareness of the deadly virus i will now become a spokesman for the hiv virus morrison quickly teamed up with the former basketball star where together they toured the country sharing their stories with as many ears and eyes as they could reach initially their recovery went great tommy had a lead hiv specialist doctor nursing his health he took his pills regularly and began transforming his broken and weak body back to full fitness that was until he met his soon-to-be wife tricia in the late 2000s he couldn't talk to people his wife wouldn't let anybody near him tommy had convinced himself and others around him that he didn't just no longer have aids but he never had the virus in the first place the former champ gave up his prescribed medicine for marijuana and other street drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine in doing so his health rapidly deteriorated and by the summer of 2010 he was barely recognizable in this picture he was just 40 years old after a string of health complications over the next couple of years morrison finally passed away on september 1st 2013 due to multiple organ failure and a cardiac arrest he was only 44 years old [Music] there are still so many unanswered questions surrounding tommy's life and death like when did he contract the virus how did he contract the virus why did he give up on recovery sadly it seems unlikely that we'll ever definitively know the answers i do think it's worth pointing out that after a lot of research i was unable to find a story of how morrison's lover or ring-sharer whoever contracted the virus is a direct result of himself his three ex-wives and two sons all live healthy lives to this day with trey and kenzie both following in their father's footsteps as professional boxers thanks for watching if you enjoyed the video a thumbs up is always appreciated and for those of you that just stumbled across this channel for the first time feel free to check back through our content for similar videos until next time fight fans this is boxing legends tv signing off the big right hand i like everybody for three rounds [Music] [Music] you
2021-06-03 20:22
