Boxing’s Greats of the States | Oklahoma: Tommy Morrison

Boxers come from every corner of the globe. Sometimes, fighters are products of their environment, favoring styles prevalent in the country or state from which they hail. Various regions of the United States are considered factories for great fighters, though that certainly is not the case with each state. In this weekly Sherdog.com series, the spotlight will shine on the best boxer of all-time from each of the 50 states. Fighters do not necessarily need to be born in a given state to represent it; they simply need to be associated with it.

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Tommy Morrison was a Gravette, Arkansas, native who spent his formative years in Oklahoma. He turned to boxing in response to a horrific upbringing and excelled, racking up dozens of wins on the amateur and underground tough man circuits before turning professional in 1988.

Morrison quickly gained recognition through his aggressive style, crushing knockout power and golden mullet. He started his career 28-0, starred as a villain in “Rocky V” and challenged Ray Mercer for the WBO heavyweight championship on Oct. 18, 1991 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Morrison succumbed to punches from the Olympic gold medalist in a frightening fifth-round knockout. “The Duke” rebounded, made his way back up the rankings and defeated George Foreman by unanimous decision to capture the vacant WBO title a little less than two years later. Morrison successfully defended the championship against Tim Tomashek before losing it to Michael Bentt in a first-round technical knockout on Oct. 29, 1993. He went 8-1-1 over his final 10 appearances, a knockout loss to Lennox Lewis his only setback.

Morrison tested positive for HIV in 1996, and though he would later challenge the findings, his career was never the same. He died at age 44 in 2013, having finished his boxing career 48-3-1 (42 KOs).

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