EX-HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION TOMMY MORRISON IS DEAD
By Ronnie Nathanielsz
PhilBoxing.com
Tue, 03 Sep 2013
Former heavyweight champion, the exciting and hard-hitting Tommy ?The Duke? Morrison who won the WBO title from George Foreman in 1993 but lost to Britain?s Lennox Lewis in 1995, has died at the age of 44 in a Nebraska hospital on Monday, Manila Time.
Morrison tested positive for HIV in 1996 and his license was suspended. However, he denied the claim, later alleging that the HIV test produced a false positive.
He was cleared to fight after passing medical tests in Arizona and fought twice, winning by TKO?s against lesser known opponents.
His former manager Tony Holden made the announcement of his longtime friend?s death but no cause of death was disclosed.
Holden once remarked that if Morrison was fighting today ? he no doubt would be a world champion? pointing to the top heavyweights in the 1990s including Mike Tyson. Lewis, Riddick Bowe, Foreman and Ray Mercer compared to the comparative paucity of talent today.
Morrison dreamed of representing the US in the Seoul Olympics of 1988 but was beaten by Mercer who also inflicted his first loss on Morrison as a pro after he had won his first 28 bouts.
Morrison starred in the movie ?Rocky V? in which he played the role of Tommy ?Machine? Gunn in 1990 in the popular series that starred Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa.
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