George Foreman vs. Tommy Morrison

"Star-Spangled Battle"

Date	June 7, 1993
Location	Las Vegas Hilton in Paradise, Nevada
Title(s) on the line	WBO Heavyweight Championship
George Foreman vs. Tommy Morrison
"Big"		"The Duke"
Tale of the tape
Houston, Texas	From	Jay, Oklahoma
72–3	Pre-fight record	36–1
256 lb (18 st 4 lb; 116 kg)	Weight	226 lb (16 st 2 lb; 103 kg)
Orthodox	Style	Orthodox
IBF/WBO No. 1 Ranked Heavyweight	Recognition	WBO No. 2 Ranked Heavyweight

George Foreman vs. Tommy Morrison, billed as the "Star-Spangled Battle", was a professional boxing match contested on June 7, 1993 for the vacant WBO Heavyweight Championship.

Background

After WBO Heavyweight champion Michael Moorer opted to vacate the title in February of 1993, the WBO sanctioned a match between popular 44-year-old ex-WBC and WBA heavyweight champion George Foreman and the then-up-and-coming 24-year-old prospect Tommy Morrison to determine who would be the next WBO Heavyweight champion.^[1] Both fighters were looking to claim the title after recently losing their previous heavyweight title fight. Foreman had come up short to Evander Holyfield in a bid to become the oldest Undisputed Heavyweight champion two years prior, while Morrison had unsuccessfully challenged fellow undefeated contender Ray Mercer for the WBO title, in what was his first (and at the time of his fight with Foreman, only) professional loss in 1991. Prior to the fight, Foreman announced that his fight with Morrison would "probably (be) the last fight I'll ever have" while adding that he wanted to go out "right" by getting a "title belt around my waist".^[2]

The Fight

Though the bout was promoted as a match between two of boxing's hardest punchers, neither fighter scored a knockdown nor had their opponent in any real danger. Morrison would abandon his usual aggressive style and spent much of the fight keeping his distance from Foreman, who was the aggressor for the duration of the fight and stalked the agile Morrison, who in turn circled the older and bigger Foreman and peppered him with sharp punches before quickly retreating. Though the pro-Foreman voiced their disapproval by showering Morrison with boos, Morrison's tactic ultimately paid off. Morrison would ultimately pick up a lopsided uanimous decision with two scores of 117–110 and one score of 118–109, becoming the new WBO Heavyweight champion in the process.^[3]

Aftermath

Morrison's victory not only made him the WBO heavyweight champion, but also a legit contender to the three major heavyweight titles sanctioned by the WBA, WBC and IBF. Morrison first agreed to defend his newly won title against his Rocky V co-star Michael Williams in what was billed as real-life Tommy Gunn vs. Union Cane (the characters that Morrison and Williams played in the film) matchup. However, Williams refused to leave his dressing room and Morrison was forced to face unknown journeyman Tim Tomashek in what ultimately became a non-title bout. Morrison then agreed to a lucrative WBC title shot against champion Lennox Lewis,^[4] but opted to defend his WBO title against little-known Michael Bentt in what was perceived to be a warmup before facing Lewis. However, Bentt would unexpectedly score three knockdowns over Morrison en route to a first round knockout victory that cost Morrison his title match against Lewis.^[5]

Foreman initially stuck with his retirement plans and spent a year and a half without participating in a boxing match. However, Foreman decided to challenge the newly crowned WBA and IBF heavyweight champion Michael Moorer for his titles to which Moorer accepted. Moorer had little trouble with Foreman and was ahead on all three scorecards when Foreman hit Moorer with a sudden right hand that dropped Moorer for the count and made Foreman the oldest heavyweight champion in boxing history.

References