Former WBO heavyweight boxing champion Tommy “The Duke” Morrison passed away at 44 years of age on Sunday night, as reported by his former promoter Tony Holden.
Morrison was best known to the mainstream for starring alongside Sylvester Stallone in Rocky V as Tommy Gunn the young protege of Rocky Balboa.
To boxing fans he was known for his devastating knockout power and beating George Foreman for the vacant WBO world heavyweight title in 1993.
In 1996 coming off of a devastating TKO loss to Lennox Lewis it was revealed that he had tested positive for HIV and he retired, later in 2007 he would return to the boxing ring claiming that he never had HIV and the test was a false positive. He decided to stop taking the medications needed for HIV and slowly his health was deteriorating.
The cause of death hasn’t been officially determined.
Tommy David Morrison (January 2, 1969 – September 1, 2013)
