Tommy Morrison was originally scheduled to fight Ray Mercer on August 9, 1991 in Atlantic City, but the bout was cancelled when Tommy suffered a deep cut in sparring. The match was rescheduled for October 18 the following week, and I knew I wouldn’t miss this one for anything.
I went over my brother’s house to watch it on pay-per-view, and I remember the opening of the broadcast vividly. It was announced that the upcoming Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield fight set for November 8 in Las Vegas, had been postponed because of a Tyson rib injury. I never believed that nonsense for a second, knowing Mike had faked an injury to get out of the fight. How could you expect someone to train, knowing you’re going to trial in a few months, and may wind up in prison, which eventually did happen. Quite frankly, I didn’t blame Tyson one bit.
As far as the fight that night, Tommy came out blazing, landing combinations and power shots almost at will. He looked spectacular for about three rounds, but was also appearing to be totally winded between rounds, making me wonder how long he would last. In the fourth. Tommy slowed down, and Mercer started to get more aggressive, landing his own hard blows. Just before the round ended, he hurt Tommy, and I knew it wouldn’t be long.
As soon as the fifth round began, Mercer jumped back on Morrison, trapping him in a corner. He had knocked out Tommy with about 4 shots, but unfortunately referee Tony Perez let Ray hit him with 18 unanswered blows, knocking him senseless. It was of the most savage knockouts ever, and it was all Perez’s fault. He did the same thing 10 years earlier, when he almost let Gerry Cooney kill Ken Norton in the same fashion. I was sick in my stomach, and also pissed at the stupid referee.
Tommy said for his own mental sanity’s sake, he never watched the tape of the knockout. He instead all he could do, take a much needed break from boxing and training, and regroup. What he did at this point of his career would determine if he had what it made to be a world champion, and I was certainly rooting him on.
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