“It’s been snowing outside for three consecutive days in Reno. But, a capacity crowd has made its way in here tonight for this Heavyweight doubleheader.”
In a card billed as “Heavy Damage,” Jim Lampley was settling in to call two fights that featured a pair of gargantuan hitters. First, hard-punching Tommy “The Duke” Morrison would face off against veteran Carl “The Truth” Williams.
The second fight would feature “Big” George Foreman and his sledgehammer power against Pierre Coetzer. While Foreman would go on to dominate Coetzer, Morrison and Williams would lock horns in a titanic struggle and ultimately wind up stealing the show.
On this night, January 16, HBO would televise its first boxing card of the New Year. January was to be an eventful month as, on the following day, the Buffalo Bills and Dallas Cowboys punched their tickets to meet in Super Bowl XXVII.
Just three days later on January 20, the country paused for the inauguration of President William Jefferson Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States. He officially took the oath of office at noon eastern time on a cold winter afternoon.
The reigning Heavyweight champion, Riddick Bowe, was interviewed during the broadcast. The champion was in training as he prepared to make his first title defense after beating Evander Holyfield the previous November.
The year was 1993.
Alongside Larry Merchant and Gil Clancy, who was filling in for Foreman, Lampley described the first bout of the night as a contest between, “The powerful slugger Tommy Morrison and the stylish Carl Williams.”
Morrison, 24, was touted as John Wayne’s grandnephew, hence the nickname, The Duke. His rise to fame skyrocketed in the role of Tommy Gunn alongside Sylvester Stallone in Rocky V.
After graduating to celebrity status and having earned 28 consecutive victories without a loss, the freight train suddenly came to a screeching halt. On a fateful October night in 1991, Morrison, plummeted back to earth, and the canvas, after a Ray Mercer combination brutally separated him from the conscious world.
The undefeated record was no more.
To his credit, Morrison had clawed his way back into contention and was now ranked No. 6 in the world. He had put together six consecutive victories in a very active 1992.
His opponent was considered Morrison’s stiffest test since being stopped by Mercer 14 months before. Williams (26-5, 20 KOs) was a 10-year veteran who had been in with the likes of Mike Tyson and Larry Holmes.
At 6’4” tall, he would own a two-inch height and five-inch reach advantage over The Duke.
At 33, Williams was a tough, cagey veteran with a highly educated and beautiful snapping left jab. He had shown a resilience in having climbed off the canvas when necessary and often fought even harder after doing so.
Williams, who had a career-long tendency to drop his right hand, had been floored in the past by Mike Weaver and Tyson who both possessed lightning quick, thunderous left hooks
Boxing fans expected something to give as Williams was climbing into the ring with a fighter whose calling card was his left hook.
The doubleheader, broadcast live on HBO, took place at the Reno Sparks Convention Center in front of a large, excited crowd.
Ring announcer Michael Buffer introduced referee Mills Lane and then the fighters.
The bell sounded and Round 1 got underway with both men meeting in the middle of the ring. Each looked to size the other up and establish their game plan.
Williams, wearing his trademark white trunks with red trim, snapped his long left jab. He was clearly content to stay on the outside and steer clear of the Morrison power.
Morrison, wearing black trunks with the red, white and blue stars and bars streaking across the front, looked to get in close behind his own jab.
In the most elementary of descriptions, this was the boxer versus the puncher.
The question whether Williams could keep his right hand taped to the side of his head was answered less than a minute into the fight. Lampley wailed, “And there’s the left hook and down goes Carl Williams!”
As the two were trading at close quarters, a Morrison left hook bomb bounced high off the head of Williams and put him on the seat of his pants. He quickly rose, as he had done so often in his career, and soon re-engaged Morrison.
After surviving the first stanza, Williams had a much better second round, popping his left jab and circling from left to right. Morrison, with knees bent, continued to bob and weave while rocking from left to right. Desperately trying to work inside, he wanted to blast away at close range.
Sticking to his plan, Williams looked to begin Round 3 just as he had finished Round 2. He was moving, boxing and jabbing.
Just seconds into the third, Morrison stepped forward and fired a short, cracking jab of his own that landed flush on Williams’ jaw. Lampley shrieked, “And another left hand and down goes Williams for the second knockdown of the fight!”
In a near mirror image of the first round, Williams fought back and was able to find his way out of trouble and out of the third round.
Upon entering Round 5, unofficial judge Harold Lederman had Morrison with a comfortable lead, up three rounds to one, 39-35.
Morrison, however, began to show some early signs of fatigue in the fifth. With just over a minute gone, Williams landed a picture-perfect right cross. The punch landed flush on the Morrison cheek and put him down on all fours.
The crowd rose as Lampley felt the tide turn, “Good right hand by Williams and down goes Morrison! Sudden shift in momentum.”
After rising to one knee and taking the standing eight count from Lane, a wounded Morrison was now faced with a charging Williams who immediately jumped him as the action resumed. The boxer was now the puncher and he looked to put Morrison away.
[otw_shortcode_quote border=”bordered” border_style=”bordered”]“And now suddenly it is Tommy Morrison’s future as a Heavyweight contender that’s on the line. Morrison lands a left hook but William’s pounds away with the right! Second knockdown! Three knockdown rule is in effect!” -Jim Lampley[/otw_shortcode_quote]
It was now Morrison’s turn to show his resolve and bravery as he climbed off the canvas for a second time. Although one more knockdown would end the fight, he stood and traded heavy artillery with Williams who threw everything, including the kitchen sink, at an opponent who was in serious trouble.
A courageous Morrison, who finished the round on shaky legs, was able to pelt Williams with a solid right hand and left hook as the round came to a close. He had survived the onslaught.
The crowd, now on its feet, stood and cheered as the fighters returned to their corners.
While the replays were shown to the packed house in Reno, HBO viewers saw the same replays at home as Merchant concluded, “Tommy Morrison was of course in Rocky V, and this turned out to be a round out of a movie. It was a rocky fifth round.”
Both fighters had their moments in Rounds 6 and 7 as each took turns hammering the other.
With seven rounds now complete, and after each fighter having been floored twice, Lederman had the fight 65-64 for Morrison. Merchant and Clancy had the affair scored dead even.
Now in Round 8, Morrison looked as if he had gotten a second wind. He aggressively attacked Williams and landed a blistering left hook. “The Truth” staggered backward into the ropes as Morrison was now applying unrelenting pressure.
The tide had turned yet again.
The Duke fired a series of lefts and rights to the head of a defenseless Williams who now looked like the proverbial “BB in a box car.” His eyes were glazed over while blood streamed down the left side of his face.
Williams upper body snapped backwards over the top rope as Morrison, sensing the end was near, wailed away.
With under a minute remaining in the round, Merchant shouted, “Williams is already busted up! Mills Lane has stopped the fight!”
Lampley quickly summarized the theatrics. “Another dramatic, power-punching comeback by Tommy Morrison! And the crowd stands and cheers for both fighters! And Carl Williams sits down in Tommy Morrison’s corner!”
The bout, stopped by Lane, ended by way of TKO at 2:10 of the eighth round.
Williams, after the failed title bids against Tyson and Holmes, would not fight for the title again.
Morrison went on to win the vacant WBO crown in a bout with Foreman later that summer.
Tragically, Williams fell ill and passed on April 7, 2013. Less than five months later, Morrison passed on September 1.
Both men continuously brought guts, heart and desire into the ring. Aside from leaving us with so many great fights and indelible memories, sadly, they both left us far too soon.
