Tommy “The Duke” Morrison Compared to his Sons Trey Lippe Morrison & Kenzie Morrison at the Same Point in Their Boxing Careers
By Luca “MamaLuke” Balossino
It´s inevitable folks… Comparing the past with the present is part of being human, we always tend to do it. On the average, we tend to like the past better than the present, with us never being satisfied and always wanting what we don’t have, it´s human nature.
Looking at the past Tommy “The Duke” Morrison, considered by many boxing experts to have the greatest left hook in heavyweight history started his career with a sequence of wins combined with KO´S. Today, his two sons Trey and Kenzie are undefeated as heavyweight’s boxers. Trey has a 10-0, 10 KO’s and Kenzie has a 6-0-1, 5 KO’s. They both became professionals at the age of 24 with no amateur experience.
Trey and Kenzie are managed by Tony Holden, which was also Tommy´s manager during most of his professional career. Holden recently talked about the Tommy’s sons. “If Kenzie and Trey weren’t Tommy’s sons, I wouldn’t be doing this. Trey moves like his dad, fights like his dad and even laughs like his dad. It’s bizarre, how much Trey and Tommy are alike. And then Kenzie, he looks just like the young Tommy.”
As I said, the comparison is inevitable, so let´s go back to the past and remember the quality of the first 10 opponents that Tommy “The Duke” Morrison had.
1. Morrison Vs Muhammad
Tommy´s pro debut was when he was about to turn 20 years old, on November 1988 at the Felt Forum in New York City, against a boxer that also had his debut and never fought again in the ring ever since: William Muhammad (6´3´ well built).
This fight was recorded, but was never seen or at least there is no evidence of ‘the lost tape”. Tommy was well known during his career to be a body puncher, so this is how he started the fight against William with a few strong body shots. The fight ended with a straight right hand as Muhammad was coming off the ropes.
Duke 1-0, 1 KO
2. Morrison Vs Tony Dewar
This fight was promoted by the infamous and well known promoter/drug dealer Johnny Ace. Lasted 41 seconds of the first round (can be seen on Youtube). Dewar had his professional debut (and last). The fight was in Detroit, Michigan, 21 days later after Tommy´s debut with Muhammad… Dewar started jabbing and The Duke in no time landed the left hook right on the bottom of Dewar chin, good night.
Duke 2-0, 2 KO’s
3. Morrison Vs Joe Adams
This fight was in Oklahoma City, 13 days later after defeating Dewar. The venue looked like my math classroom in high school. There were about 50 people, and if you notice on YouTube the gloves were very small, only 6 oz. The referee for this bout was the well-known Steve Thomasson. Joe Adams was at the time 1-10-1, started jabbing and moving quit good, but didn´t last too long, only 55 seconds of the first round when Tommy landed his trademark left hook.
Duke 3-0, 3 KO’s
4. Morrison Vs Elvin Evans
This fight, like the Dewar bout was in Detroit, at the Joe Louis Arena, only 5 days after winning his 3 fight. Elvin “Earthquake” Evans at the time was 2-1, 1 KO and made it to 1:15 of the first round. The Duke cornered Evans and landed a one-two followed by a straight right hand which dropped Evans. He managed to get up, but seconds after that, a wide open left hook was landed, and the rest is history. Evans was out for several minutes after the knockout. (Evans also fought later on his career Lou Savarese and lost in 2 rounds via KO, and Michael Grant which he managed to last 6 rounds and lost via KO).
Duke 4-0, 4 KO’s
5. Morrison Vs Mike Foley
This fight was in Great Falls, Montana, against this big fireman named Mike Foley. At the time, Foley had a pro record of 0-2 and retired from boxing 8 seconds after facing “The Duke”. Morrison landed the first punch, his trademark left hook and bye bye Mike Foley.
Duke 5-0, 5 KO’s
6. Morrison Vs Traore Ali
Two weeks later after landing a one punch KO to stop Mike Foley, “The Duke” was already fighting at Madison Square Garden in NYC. Traore Ali managed to go 4 rounds in a 6 rounder bout against Tommy. Ali fought well but was overpowered by Tommy. Ali was dropped in the third round but managed to get up at the end of the round. Round 4 with a combination of right uppercut followed by a left hook, put Ali down, but he got up until he got cornered and Referee Randy Newman stopped the bout. They were already connected people watching this bout at ringside like Peyton Sher.
Duke 6-0, 6 KO’s
7. Morrison Vs Lee Moore
This fight was 2 weeks after fighting at the MSG, in Biloxi, MS at the Hilton Casino Morrison faced Lee Moore making his debut that night. Moore lasted 2 rounds after Tommy landed the first effective left hook which broke his opponent’s nose. Six months later, Moore fought Riddick Bowe and lost in one round. “The Duke” also considered this bout to be like a sparring match. Lee Moore ended his boxing career after 0 wins and 10 defeats.
Duke 7-0, 7 KO’s
8. Morrison Vs Alan Jamison
This fight was 1 month later after beating Lee Moore and this time in Wichita, Kansas against Alan Jamison that was 0-11! Talk about a confidence builder for Tommy! It didn´t last long. One round Morrison landed a straight right hand on the side of Jamison’s jaw and was Goodnight Irene!
Duke 8-0, 8 KO’s
9. Morrison Vs Lorenzo Boyd
Tommy started to become a hot name in Kansas City, where this bout took place. Boyd was the first real test for Tommy and previously fought and lost to the following top fighters: Mike Tyson (2KO), Gary Mason (2KO), James Tillis (3KO), Tyrell Biggs (3KO), and Trevor Berbik (3KO). “The Duke”in the 2nd round landed a nasty uppercut that lifted Boyd off the floor and that was the end of it.
By his 9th fight, “The Duke” was making 100usd per round. He signed a contract with co-manager Bill Cayton. So in his 10th fight (and first under Bill Cayton as a manager) he made 3000usd as a fighting purse.
Duke 9-0, 9 KO’s
10. Morrison Vs Mike McGrady
This was a televised bout which was aired on Wide World of Sports. The 3 knock down rule was in effect and he went down three times in round causing the fight to end via TKO. This was the first fight under Bill Cayton management. McGrady was also a truck driver, and came in that night with an undefeated record of 5-0,0 KO’s.
Duke 10-0, 10 KO’s
So there we have it folks… We also need to consider that Tommy had 240 amateur fights under his belt, while Kenzie and Trey have zero amateur experience. They are catching up as fast as they can. They are also 24 and 25 years old, while Tommy was almost 20 years old when he started.
If we look back and try to make a comparison between Tommy, Kenzie and Trey with the exposure (venues), level of opponents, and professional record between them, we can all I feel agree that the opposition was slightly better for Tommy, fighting 1 real
trialhorse and winning all the fights via KO. With 15 rounds in 10 professional bouts. The exposure I will have to say that Tommy had was much more than his sons at this point of their careers. Fighting in Detroit, Kansas, NYC at MSG, Montana and Oklahoma City. The record with Trey is exactly the same as Tommy.
With Kenzie the record which is a good one is not quite similar, 6-0-1, 5 KO’s. He had a draw with a very good opponent which is considered a Cruiserweight. My honest opinion makes me wonder if Kenzie goes down to the Cruiserweight division and has a very promising career. His fundamentals in boxing are more complete than Trey (raw power). Moves faster and has a very good reach (jab jab jab and bang!).
Asking if they can be as good as or better than their father, would be the wrong question to ask, it´s way too early to tell, let´s give them time. The real question here is: Where does Kenzie and Trey go from here? Tommy from his 11th – 21th bout, stepped up the level of opponents by facing trial horses like Steve Zouski, Jesse Shelby, Lorenzo Canady, and Canadian Champion Ken Lakusta.
Let´s hope they are starting to get real trial horses of today´s heavyweights (and maybe for Kenzie cruiserweights).
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