Tommy Morrison Dies At 44 | Tommy Morrison Dead | Tommy Morrison World Heavy Weight Champion Died | Tommy Morrison Passed Away

Tommy Morrison Dies At 44 | Tommy Morrison Dead | Tommy Morrison World Heavy Weight Champion Died | Tommy Morrison Passed Away

Tommy Morrison, a former heavyweight champion who gained fame for his role in the movie Rocky V, has died. He was 44. The last 20 years of the brash boxer's life would be defined by extensive legal troubles, erratic behavior and mounting health problems. Morrison would later claim that he never tested positive for the virus that causes AIDs, even as he was hospitalized during the last days of his life. He earlier lost to Ray Mercer when challenging the then-champion for the same title in 1991 and in 1995 lost to Lennox Lewis. Morrison also assumed the role of Tommy Gunn in Rocky V but had, for the last year, been bedridden, unable to speak and kept alive by a ventilator. 

Morrison won his first 28 professional fights, beating faded champions such as Pinklon Thomas along the way. He hit it big at the Thomas & Mack Center in the summer of 1993 — a unanimous decision over Foreman, then in the midst of his comeback — to claim a vacant world title. His lifestyle never changed, though, even when he stepped away from the ring. He had already run afoul of the law in 1993, when he pleaded guilty to assaulting a college student. He also dealt with weapons charges and multiple DUI incidents over the years. 'Tommy fought right to his last breath. I held his powerful left hook hand till the end and he was not alone. I never left his side,' Trisha wrote on his Facebook page.