Tommy Morrison vs Lennox Lewis

A contest once expected to divide a purse of $16 million finally took place more than two years later, after both men had lost world championships and much of the proposed money had disappeared. Before a crowd of 8,369 at the Atlantic City Convention Center on October 7, 1995, Lennox Lewis restored his position among the leading heavyweights by flooring Tommy Morrison four times and stopping him in the sixth round.

Their first arrangement had been made in 1993, when Lewis held the WBC title, and Morrison had just outpointed George Foreman for the WBO championship. The match collapsed after Michael Bentt knocked Morrison down three times and stopped him in the first round. Lewis subsequently lost his own title when Oliver McCall caught him with a right hand in the second round at Wembley. By the time they met, both were engaged in rebuilding. Morrison had revived his standing by stopping Donovan “Razor” Ruddock in six rounds, while Lewis had defeated Lionel Butler and Justin Fortune under the direction of his new trainer, Emanuel Steward. Morrison’s IBC title was at stake, though the greater prize was renewed access to the principal heavyweight championships. Lewis received $2.4 million and Morrison $2.1 million.

Lewis weighed 241 pounds, fourteen more than Morrison, and used the difference in height and reach with care. The opening round was cautious. Morrison, whose left hook remained the chief danger, crouched and tried to work his way inside, while Lewis held him at the end of a long left jab. Neither man committed freely, but the Englishman controlled the range and obliged Morrison to begin his attacks from too far away.

The contest changed in the second. Morrison went to the body and followed with a right hand, but Lewis avoided the blow and answered with a short left hook. Morrison dropped briefly to one knee, and referee Mills Lane administered the mandatory count. The punch also opened a cut above Morrison’s right eye. Lewis did not rush his work, preferring to continue jabbing at the damaged area and denying Morrison the range required for his hook. In the third, Lewis again governed the exchanges with his left hand, prompting some impatience among spectators who wanted heavier action. The restraint was purposeful. Each jab forced Morrison to reset his feet, and his approaches became increasingly easy to read.

Morrison made his best showing in the fourth. He pressed more firmly, found occasional success at closer quarters and took the round on two of the judges’ cards. His willingness was never in question, but every advance carried risk. He had to pass Lewis’s jab before he could use his shorter punches, and the swelling around his right eye was reducing his view of the incoming left hand.

Lewis re-established control in the fifth. He struck from outside, tied Morrison up when necessary and waited for the American to square himself during an attack. Late in the round, a right uppercut sent Morrison down on one knee for the second time. The challenger rose and survived to the bell, but his right eye was almost closed, and his movements had become laboured. After five rounds, all three judges had Lewis ahead by 49–44. The two knockdowns had created a large deficit, leaving Morrison dependent upon the sudden arrival of the left hook which had rescued him against Ruddock.

Lewis gave him no such opportunity. Fifty seconds into the sixth, another accurate sequence drove Morrison to the floor for the third knockdown. He regained his feet, but his balance and sight were plainly impaired. Lewis resumed with measured pressure, keeping his punches straight until the opening appeared. A heavy left hook put Morrison down once more about half a minute later. Morrison rose at eight, but Lane examined him and stopped the contest at one minute 22 seconds. The intervention was timely; the challenger had taken four counts, could scarcely see from his right eye and had no adequate defence remaining.

The victory advanced Lewis’s record to 28 wins against one defeat and gave him a third consecutive stoppage since the loss to McCall. More important than the minor championship he collected was the evidence that his work with Steward was producing a more controlled heavyweight. Lewis had not attempted to overpower Morrison from the first bell. He neutralised the left hook, damaged the eye with the jab, and applied his strength only after the challenger had been reduced. Morrison had arrived with enough power to command respect, but he was unable to cross the distance without punishment. The long-delayed match ended not as the costly championship meeting originally planned, but as a clear demonstration that Lewis had recovered his direction while Morrison had reached the limit of his.

I fancied Lennox Lewis strongly because Tommy Morrison’s best weapon was also the easiest one for Lewis to take away. Morrison needed to set his feet, dip left, and bring that big hook over. Lewis kept him outside with the jab and made him cross too much ground before he could throw it.

The fight had been delayed for two years after Morrison lost disastrously to Michael Bentt. He rebuilt himself, outpointed George Foreman and then stopped Razor Ruddock, which restored his popularity and made people believe the old danger had returned. But Ruddock gave Morrison opportunities that Lewis was never going to offer.

Under Emanuel Steward, Lewis was becoming less hurried and more calculating. He did not chase an early knockout. He controlled Morrison with the jab, stepped away from the hook and punished him whenever his feet came square. The short left hook that produced the first knockdown was an excellent counter, and the damage around Morrison’s right eye made an already difficult task impossible.

Morrison showed courage, but he was thoroughly outclassed. By the sixth, he could not see the punches or defend himself properly. Mills Lane stopped it at exactly the right time. This was the night Lewis began looking like the complete heavyweight he would later become.