There is an article on the WBN (World Boxing News) website and some material on Facebook (Tony Holden, who previously promoted Tommy and considers him a friend) that argues that the overdue powerhouse Tommy Morrison, who won the WBO heavyweight title in 1993, should at least be on the Hall of Fame ballot.

In an article written by Phil Jay, he wonders aloud why Tommy was never eligible for office (and compares the fact that Morrison wasn’t on the ballot to the embarrassing absence of a certain Vinny Paz from the HOF).

That’s a good question. Is Tommy Morrison worthy of induction into the International Boxing Hall of Fame?

When you consider Tommy’s skill set, his excitement value, and most importantly, his wins over quality opponents (after all, there have been many great and thrilling boxers in boxing, none of whom were HOF material simply because they could never defeat an elite opponent) – you can see that “The Prince” may be up to the task.

To consider:

Morrison had victories over George Foreman (a Hall of Fame star), Donovan “Razor” Ruddock, Carl Williams, Joe Hipp (a damn faint one), and the faded James Tillis and Pinklon Thomas.

Two of those victories are of course the standouts. Morrison beat “Gigantic George” to win the WBO heavyweight title in the process, and Tommy used a lot of movement, skill and cunning to stay one step ahead of Foreman most of the time, and when the huge shot landed, Morrison took it. Well, Tommy also took one of the most incredible heavyweight wars of the 90s, full of knockdowns and momentum swings. The huge win over Ruddock in 1995 really put Morrison on the points.

Or does?

To consider:

Tommy fell victim to one of the nastiest and most chilling knockouts of the 90s, when Ray Mercer unleashed a barrage of shots while Morrison was defenseless on the ropes. For some, Morrison’s bubble as a handsome puncher/part-time movie star (“Rocky V”) and his hype job had truly burst. Later in his career, Morrison was quickly eliminated by Michael Bentt, recovered from two knockdowns to draw Ross Puritty, and Tommy was stopped one-sidedly by Lennox Lewis. But that lumps all of Tommy’s losses together. It should be noted, of course, that Morrison, showing real strength of character, returned from his defeat to Mercer to fight the real pain of beating Joe Hipp. After Bentt and Puritty argued, Tommy returned to stop Ruddock.

Add it all up and yes, Tommy deserves a place in the Hall. Well, maybe. Certainly as much as a brutal guy like Ricky Hatton deserves. Some fans argue that the entry level to the HOF has fallen or been lowered over the years. Maybe so. But fighters like Tommy Morrison fought with pure courage and heart every time. And that’s saying something. At least that should be enough.

Rewind to 1994 and Lennox Lewis ended the drought that Britain had endured for so long when it came to having a world heavyweight champion. Lewis, who was born in London but moved to Canada at the age of 12, won a version of the crown, becoming the first British fighter to hold the world heavyweight title since the great Bob Fitzsimmons.

Although many people claimed Lewis was Canadian, Lennox maintained that he was a true Brit. And in 1993, after a victory over Tony Tucker, Lewis became the first Briton to win the world heavyweight title since the great Bob Fitzsimmons had won the real one in the previous century. Lewis had taken the version, the one that Riddick Bowe had thrown in the bin, and yet he had made history. Some people, not least the British fans who now “claimed” Lennox as one of their own, believed that the 6ft 5in, athletic puncher might be the best in the world at that weight. In time, that thinking would prove to be right. But first, there was a substantial bump in the road in the road in the form of Oliver McCall and his ace trainer, Emanuel Steward.

Making his third defense of the WBC belt he won by decision over Tony Tucker, Lewis faced a tough, already gray-haired Oliver McCall. Steward armed the “Atomic Bull” with a plain but quite brilliant game plan: throw a right hand to the chin as demanding as you can as soon as Lewis throws his, then drop your hands.

In the second round that night in London, everything worked like a treat. Lewis, with the much less wise but much louder Pepe Correa in his corner, correctly threw a right, then let his hands drop; just as Emanuel had noticed. McCall didn’t miss a beat, firing a right counter with his eyes closed and outshining Lewis in a flash. Lewis stumbled, then stumbled some more before the referee called for a stoppage. Lewis never saw what hit him, while McCall never saw what hit Lewis! But McCall “felt” the shot, as well as seeing the opening.

Lewis’ career took a drastic turn, but the good news outweighed the bad. Steward always said Lewis was the better, more naturally gifted fighter, and shortly after McCall’s disaster, Lewis was trained, educated, and honed by the genius Kronk. The rest is history.

On Saturday night we saw another British fighter suffer an even more ugly defeat in Anthony Joshua (who, we have to admit, isn’t as great as Lewis), so we’ll have to wait and see if AJ can bounce back. Lewis did, although he took significantly less punishment than Joshua in his loss to Daniel Dubois, and the loss to McCall was of course the first defeat for Lennox, who has only lost twice in his illustrious career. At one point, some people were comparing Joshua to Lewis. Never again.

The great boxer Kostya Tszyu turns 55 today, and the former pound-for-pound king has many great fights and nights behind him that are worth remembering.

Think of Tszyu, and you’ll likely immediately think of two of his fights: the huge, upset loss to Ricky Hatton toward the end of Tszyu’s career, and Zab Judah, whom Tszyu met when he was in his prime. Tszyu, who has gigantic wins over the likes of Juan Laporte, Sammy Fuentes, Livingston Bramble, Jake Rodriguez, Roger Mayweather, Calvin Grove, Rafael Ruelas, Diosbelys Hurtado, Miguel Angel Gonzalez, Julio Cesar Chavez (a fight the aging Chavez should never have taken), Sharmaba Mitchell, Oktay Urkal, Ben Tackie and Jesse James Leija — went up in flames when he ran into Judah in November 2001.

Tszyu’s stunning, sensational, and even disturbing KO over Zab remains a YouTube favorite.

Why?

If you ever wanted to see what could happen to a fighter’s balance, his ability to think clearly, after taking a single perfectly placed punch to a vulnerable spot on the head—whether it’s the chin or the temple—the brief but highly memorable fight on November 3, 2001 between Tszyu and Judah provides one graphic illustration of that fact.

The two 140-pound contenders met in a three-belt unification bout, and the experts were almost split on who would win. It was a great matchup between two top fighters. Slick southpaw Judah of Modern York was undefeated at 27-0 and held the IBF belt. Tszyu of Australia was 27-1, coming off a loss to Vince Phillips in 1997, and held the WBC and WBA titles.

Instead of a great fight, we got a great KO. A completely devastating knockout that landed the loser in all sorts of trouble.

Zab won the first round, his speed and accuracy admirable, and some fans were already wondering if Tszyu wasn’t just too snail-paced to compete with “Super Judah.” And then, in the final seconds of the second round, it happened. Tszyu landed a perfect right hand to Judah’s exposed chin, a powerful blow that knocked Zab tough onto his back. Judah got up quickly, too quickly, and almost immediately fell back down after trying to talk to referee Jay Nady.

Nady waved the fight to an end immediately after the second knockdown, seeing Judah’s legs completely gone from close range. Judah was inconsolable, crying that it was okay to continue, then he got nasty, grabbing the third man by the throat with his gloved fist, then throwing a stool at Nady. It was an ugly thing. One punch, one perfectly executed punch, ruined the great fighter to the point that Judah didn’t know what he was doing or where he was.

In many ways, Judah’s career never recovered. Tszyu’s punch grenade exploded and Judah suffered the humiliating KO defeat that all fighters fear. Judah fell victim to all sorts of cruel jokes at his expense, with fans calling his “chicken dance.”

All fighters put their lives on the line every time they bravely stepped into the ring. Kostya Tszyu’s brutal knockout proved that many years ago.

Content birthday, champ!