LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – The son of the late Tommy “The Duke” Morrison, Kenzie Morrison put his name on the map with a fifth-round stoppage over Hasim Rahman Jr. on Friday night at The Theater at the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. 

Morrison (20-0-2, 18 KOs) of Shawnee, Kansas by way of Miami, Oklahoma started fast as he stated he would before the bout, landing a couple stiff combinations in the opening minutes. Rahman (12-1, 6 KOs) of Las Vegas by way of Baltimore, Maryland switched to southpaw and slowed Morrsion with a right. Before the end of the round, Morrison landed a hard right that stopped Rahman in his tracks. Rahman did well to box and move out of range in the third, but still it was Morrison that landed the few eye-catching punches in the round. Morrison chased and landed on Rahman for much of the fourth, as the Las Vegas resident seemed content to cover up and fire back with single punches. 

After sitting for the first time between rounds at the end of the fourth, Morrison, 224.4, bolted out of his corner to attack Rahman, 224, in the fifth. A series of punches accentuated by an overhand right dropped Rahman hard early in the round. Rahman gamely rose to his feet, before being pressured into the ropes where referee Robert Hoyle called a halt to the bout after an uppercut and a left hand at 1:37 of the fifth round. 

“I felt strong when I connected,” explained Morrision. “Right now, I have a long drive home, but then it will be back to the gym until I await what [my promoter] Joe [Kelly] has for me.” 

With the victory, Morrison claimed the vacant WBC USNBC heavyweight title and will likely land himself a spot in the top fifteen world rankings with that sanctioning body. 

In a thrilling contest, Keith Hunter (15-1, 9 KOs) of Las Vegas powered his way to a ten-round unanimous decision over Demarius Driver (12-1, 7 KOs) of Atlanta, Georgia.

Driver, 140.8, proved to be an elusive target for much of the first, outside of a short counter right from Hunter that forced the Atlanta native to take a few off balance steps backward. Driver began to sit down on his punches more in the second, while Hunter, the son of the late Mike “The Bounty” Hunter, kept his right in his holster while waiting for the right opening to present itself. Driver slowed his pace a bit in the third, which allowed Hunter, 134, to trade on more even terms. As the round reached the final minute, Hunter found a home for some stiff rights that appeared to bother Driver. 

Driver brought his output level back up in the forth, but it was Hunter that landed the more telling blows, catching his shorter opponent reaching on occasion. Driver regained some footing in the bout in the fifth, boxing well, before Hunter rocked him in the closing seconds of the stanza. Driver appeared stunned by two overhand rights midway through the sixth, but soon after got back to utilizing his boxing skills to keep Hunter off balance. The turn of the tide was brief, as Hunter rocked Driver back into a corner with a clean body shot to close out a series of punches, ending the round. Hunter kept the pressure up in the following rounds, hurting Driver with stiff rights in the eighth. 

Driver proved his mettle in a heated ninth, as the two stood and traded for much of the round. The power edge went to Hunter, but Driver held tough and got in some power blows of his own. Hunter came out guns blazing in the tenth, winding up for huge power rights that landed to thuds for the first two minutes of the round. Again showing his toughness, Driver withstood the blows, regrouped and traded on even footing with a punched-out Hunter as the fight came to a close to a raucous ovation. Hunter claimed the victory by scores of 99-91 and 97-93 twice. 

“My biggest thing was staying relaxed, because I know I have the power to get him out of there,” explained Hunter, who called out Gervonta Davis after the bout. 

Arturo Moreno (6-0, 2 KOs) of Springfield, Missouri upset the son of the legendary Roberto Duran, Robert Duran Jr. (9-2, 7 KOs) of Plantation, Florida, scoring a one-sided six-round unanimous decision. 

After being lulled into a boxing match for two rounds, Moreno, 143.8, came out with renewed intensity in the third round. The Missouri native landed in combination for much of the round, while Duran, 147.4, covered up and threw back in short bursts. Moreno did well to box on the outside and hold at close quarters to prevent any Duran retort for much of a less-than-thrilling fourth round. Duran continued to struggle to cut off the ring or pin Moreno down in any meaningful way through the final two rounds. In the sixth, Moreno, who had previously resorted to holding on the inside, actually threw and controlled the action on the inside in the sixth en route to the decision by scores of 60-54, 59-55 and 58-56. 

Another offspring of former heavyweight champion Hasim Rahman, Sharif Rahman (6-0, 3 KOs) of Las Vegas by way of Baltimore turned back the challenge of a game Reyes Sanchez (7-2, 3 KOs) of Topeka, Kansas, earning a six-round unanimous decision. 

Through two rounds, Rahman, 156, controlled much of the action with his fast hands and combinations. In the third round, Sanchez, 153.6, managed to negate his opponent’s natural gifts by smothering Rahman against the ropes and landing where he could. Rahman more than likely could have turned and moved from the ropes, but instead elected to lean against the strands and exchange on the inside. 

Less than a minute into the forth, Sanchez missed with an errant right and clashed heads, opening a cut on Rahman. As the round came to a close, Rahman rocked Sanchez against the ropes with a combination. Sanchez did well to hold on, grappling Rahman as the bell sounded to end the round. The fifth featured some two-way action, but again Rahman came on late in the round, this time rocking Sanchez with a quick combination, fighting with his own back against the ropes. Rahman closed out the fight with more excellent combination punching, again knocking Sanchez off balance late in the round. One judge found a round for Sanchez, preventing the shutout with scores of 59-55 and 60-54 twice. 

The son of former super middleweight champion Gerald McClellan, Gerald McClellan Jr. boxed his way to a four-round unanimous decision over Demetrius Alexander (1-1, 1 KO) of Lincoln, Nebraska.

Through the first two rounds, McClellan (2-0, 1 KO) of Beloit, Wisconsin switched from southpaw to orthodox with regularity, but the tactic did not appear to do much to throw Alexander, 183.2, off of his gameplan. Fighting more out of the orthodox stance mostly in the third and fourth, McClellan, 178.2, jabbed and moved, but failed to land anything of great significance. In the end, the son of the former super middleweight champion had done enough to get the majority nod by scores of 38-38 and 39-37 twice. 

In the opening bout of the evening, Shady Gamour (13-0, 9 KOS) of Pensacola, Florida by way of Broby, Scania, Sweden boxed his way to an eight-round unanimous decision over Steven Pichardo (8-2-1, 2 KOs) of Compton, California. 

Gamour, 160.2, used his fast hands and ring generalship to control the majority of the bout, while the taller and rangier Pichardo, 159.8, failed to use his natural size to his advantage. A close first round was likely swayed in Gamour’s way with a stiff combination in the last few seconds. After a back-and-forth second round, Gamour began picking Pichardo apart as the taller California native attempted to be the aggressor in the third. Over the next two rounds, Gamour landed with more regularity, momentarily backing Pichardo into the ropes in the fifth. 

Into the sixth, Gamour’s speed and combinations continued to trouble the taller Pichardo, who failed to use his height advantage. Pichardo opened the eighth with new found aggression and landed to great effect in the opening minute. But after his initial onslaught, Pichardo appeared to have fired his final bullets and Gamour returned to controlling the action down the final stretch. In the end, Gamour claimed a unanimous decision by scores of 80-72 and 78-74 twice. 

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com or followed on Twitter @MarioG280

By Mario Ortega Jr.

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – After taking two different paths, two sons of former world heavyweight champions find themselves at the same doorstep to much bigger things with only each other standing in their way, as Kenzie Morrison takes on Hasim Rahman Jr. tonight at The Theater of Virgin Hotels Las Vegas  

Morrison (19-0-2, 17 KOs) of Shawnee, Kansas by way of Miami, Oklahoma is the unmistakable son of the late Tommy “The Duke” Morrison. Unlike Rahman, Morrison did not come up through the amateur system, nor did he get the opportunity to take this career path with his famous dad by his side. 

“I’ve just felt in the last five or so years now, with my trainer Kevin Whiteburn, I’ve stumbled into being undefeated and to really now be in position to be in focus and push for this real last hard push to hopefully fight for a world title,” explains Morrison. “That is the goal and I feel like I can do it.” 

Rahman (12-0, 6 KOs) of Las Vegas by way of Baltimore, Maryland is a product in part of USA Boxing, having come up through the national amateur system. As a professional, it has been a slow burn for Rahman, a Las Vegas resident, now 30-years-old, just one-year younger than Morrison. 

“For me, this fight is everything,” says Rahman, the son of Hasim Rahman. “The reason I came to [live in] Las Vegas was because of boxing, so my father could better his career and I just so happened to take up what my father did, following in his footsteps.”

With their Fite-televised ten-round bout being contested for the vacant WBC USNBC heavyweight title, the winner figures to gain a top fifteen world ranking and be in line for a major opportunity. Morrison weighed-in at 224.4-pounds, while Rahman scaled 224 even.

The pay-per-view card, dubbed “Sons of Legends,” features several other fighting sons of former world champions and contenders. 

In the co-main event, Keith Hunter (14-1, 9 KOs) of Las Vegas takes on unbeaten Demarius Driver (12-0, 7 KOs) of Atlanta, Georgia in a ten-round light welterweight bout. Hunter, the son of late former heavyweight contender Mike “The Bounty” Hunter, scaled 134-pounds Thursday.

Driver, coming off a first-round stoppage victory on February 26th, came in at 140.8-pounds on his first attempt and was given an hour to lose two pounds. 

Robert Duran Jr. (9-1, 7 KOs) of Plantation, Florida meets Arturo Moreno (5-0, 2 KOs) of Springfield, Missouri in a six-round welterweight contest.  Duran, the son of hall of famer Roberto Duran, scaled 147.4-pounds. Moreno, coming off of a four-round decision just last month, weighed-in at 143.8. 

Sharif Rahman (5-0, 3 KOs) of Las Vegas by way of Baltimore will take on Reyes Sanchez (7-1, 3 KOs) of Topeka, Kansas in a six-round light middleweight bout. Rahman, another of Hasim Rahman’s fighting sons, scaled 156-pounds, while Sanchez came in at 153.6. Sanchez, best known for earning an even scorecard in a majority decision loss to Nico Ali Walsh last December, marks a step-up in competition for Rahman. 

The son of former super middleweight champion Gerald McClellan, Gerald McClellan Jr., will meet Demetrius Alexander (1-0, 1 KO) of Lincoln, Nebraska in a four-round cruiserweight bout. McClellan (1-0, 1 KO) of Beloit, Wisconsin weighed-in at 178.2-pounds, while Alexander scaled 183.2.

On the non-famous fighting family portion of the card, Shady Gamour (12-0, 9 KOS) of Pensacola, Florida by way of Broby, Scania, Sweden will meet Steven Pichardo (8-1-1, 2 KOs) of Gardena, California in a six-round middleweight bout. Gamour, taking the place of Quatavious Cash, scaled 160.2-pounds. Pichardo, taking a step-up in competition, weighed 159.8-pounds.

The son of two-time former cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham, Steve Cunningham Jr., was scheduled to make his professional debut in a four-round middleweight bout. However, according to Team Cunningham, 20 potential opponents failed to pass approval from the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

Quick Weigh-in Results:

WBC USNBC Heavyweight Championship, 10 Rounds

Morrison 224.4

Rahman Jr. 224

Light welterweights, 10 Rounds

Hunter 134

Driver 140.8*

Middleweights, 6 Rounds

Gamour 160.2

Pichardo 159.8

Welterweights, 6 Rounds

Duran Jr. 147.4

Moreno 143.8

Light middleweights, 6 Rounds

Rahman 156

Sanchez 153.6

Cruiserweights, 4 Rounds

McClellan Jr. 178.2

Alexander 183.2

*attempting to lose 2 pounds

Tickets for the event, promoted by Roy Jones Jr. Boxing and Ares Entertainment, are available online at AXS.com.

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com or followed on Twitter @MarioG280

By Mario Ortega Jr.-

One of two fighting sons of the late former WBO heavyweight champion Tommy Morrison, Kenzie Morrision, takes a step out of relative anonymity and onto the grand stage of a Las Vegas, Nevada pay-per-view heavyweight main event. Morrison takes on fellow second-generation fighter Hasim Rahman Jr. in the headline attraction at The Theater at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas for the regional WBC USNBC title this coming Friday night. 

Though Morrsion (19-0-2, 17 KOs) of Shawnee, Kansas by way of Miami, Oklahoma finds himself headlining an event dubbed “Sons of Legends,” the former high school basketball standout did not foresee a future in prizefighting as a younger man. 

“I graduated high school and I had a couple scholarship opportunities to play basketball, but I was more interested in going right to work and making money,” recalls Morrison. “So I did that for a few years, but kind of got tired of the road work and being gone. So I came back and I was still young enough for boxing. I grew up around it, even though I was pretty young when my dad’s career ended.” Morrison, who was born in 1990, the year his father hit the big screen as Tommy “The Machine” Gunn in Rocky V, was six-years-old when his dad’s primary run as a professional came to an abrupt end after his well chronicled medical diagnosis. 

After a short stint back in the ring in 2008, the elder Morrison stayed close to boxing for a bit while living back in Kansas. “When I moved to Wichita when I was 19-years-old, my dad was opening up a gym on the southside of Wichita, which was kind of a low income area,” explains Kenzie. “He was trying to give them an opportunity to get into a boxing gym. So he started working with me a little bit and was kind of surprised by my ability. I was always an athlete, but I wasn’t a fighter growing up.”

Morrison worked with his dad for a while, before moving and training for a stint with his uncle Tim, another former professional fighter. “I was up there about nine months and then we had a falling out over something stupid,” recalls Kenzie. “I was young and I was like, ‘Dad, I’m going, I don’t feel like working with you.’ That was the last time that I trained with him because after that unfortunately he wound up getting sick. He wound up in Tennessee and then he would up getting in a hospital where he slowly, slowly declined in health.” 

With their time training together ultimately being very brief, Kenzie never received the positive recognition from his father as his trainer or an observer of his improvements that he likely would have heard at some point had things gone differently. At least he never heard those words from his father while his father was still with him. After Tommy’s passing, his widow ended up coming across audio recordings, which included messages he had recorded for himself about his son’s impressive progress in training.

“He was kind of a night owl,” says Kenzie of his late father. “He’d stay up late and think and he’d read the bible and do his meditation – the things he thought was necessary for him. He would also make these recordings. It was neat to hear. It was assurance that damn, he really did think I could do it. He just wasn’t going to tell me because he wanted to keep pushing me or for me not to get a big head. That was kind of his downfall. It was good to hear him say that. Even if it was in private and there was no one there to hear it.” 

A little ways into his run as a professional, Kenzie Morrison ended up joining forces with an individual that had strong ties to his father’s career and has helped move the young aspiring contender to the doorstep of big things. 

“My dad was involved in Tommy’s career, so I was around Tommy my whole life growing up,” explains Joe Kelly of Ares Entertainment, Kenzie’s promoter and the co-promoter of the event on Friday. “He was one of the investors in Tommy, so I got to see that and experience that [beginning in the late 80’s]. Tommy was always one of my favorite fighters growing up, because of the connection there, and with him training and living in Kansas City and whatnot. That is how I got into boxing. I guess everyone gets into it, at my age, probably from Mike Tyson. But my first true, intimate connection to boxing was with Tommy.” 

Over their run together, Joe and Kenzie have developed a clear bond. “It makes it even better because there is history behind it,” explains Kenzie. “I wasn’t fortunate enough to ever meet Joe’s father, but I did get to meet his mom. She was at two of my fights. She was awesome. How close his dad and my dad were and how it was all affiliated, with Joe growing up with my dad being one of his heroes and seeing all the lights and the glamor right there, front row and everything. Now, transition, and we are doing the same thing. It makes it a special deal, more than just business. You may hear it all the time: ‘This guy is family,’ but it does actually feel that way with Joe. You can tell when someone genuinely cares and the way we’ve done business so far, we are doing this together every step of the way.”

Morrison and his promoter had architected a step up in class when the COVID-19 pandemic helped slow those plans completely down. Now, with the wheels of the boxing business moving along again, Kelly can help Morrision see those plans through, beginning with the Rahman bout on Friday night. 

“This is the fight that would have been the fourth in our progression,”  says Kelly, who did three fights with Morrision pre-pandemic. “It is the right time to do it. Kenzie trains really hard, he’s ready for it. At this juncture, you have to make a step up in order to progress. I feel like a fight like this, with two great prospects, is a great fight for both of them. The winner takes a big step forward in the game. The fact that it is the first time in boxing history that sons of two former world heavyweight champions have fought, also makes it pretty cool. Just on the basis of competition, it is time for him to step up and I can say the same thing about Hasim Rahman, that it is time for him to step up as well. They are at that point in life where they need to progress.”

Morrison’s career path may have been slowed by unforeseen circumstances, but the young fighter seems to think he is ready to make up for lost time. “Joe and I were on our escalator and we were going up at the time, but then for a year and eight months I didn’t do nothing,” explains Morrison of the pandemic-induced hiatus. “We molded a game plan and we were pursuing it, but it kind of got cut short. I won’t know if it was a blessing until three years from now, or on April 29th, if what happened was good or bad. Some things happen for a reason. Maybe I needed that year to reflect and hit sort of a rock bottom in a way, to feel my hunger. I think it made me a different fighter. I feel like my mind is better conditioned for it in a weird way. Physically I am another year older, but physically I am doing things that I have never done before. I feel like I am still in my prime, at the moment. I am working my way out of it, but I am still in it right at the moment.”

Morrison understands the gravity of the moment and has been doing his homework in preparation for the regional title clash. “All I can do is watch footage, the bit that I could find,” says Morrison. “And then me and him have fought the same guy, Ronny Hale, from Alabama. Ronny came here and fought me in Oklahoma and turned around and fought Rahman, I think in New York. He ended up hurting Rahman, maybe hitting him around the ear, and I could understand why. Ronny can hit like a mule. He caught me off guard. [Rahman] is unorthodox in a way, where he fights orthodox and left-handed. He seems like more of a boxer and a defensive style boxer that likes to dictate the pace. I feel like he is going to challenge me. I’ve fought guys that have fought higher ranked people, but I’ve never fought someone that’s as athletic as Rahman, so it is going to be a step-up. He’s coming to fight and so am I. You’ve got two guys that are coming to test themselves and their opponents are their biggest test, so it has to turn out good.”

Morrison, like Rahman (12-0, 6 KOs) to this point in their careers, has been carefully moved, with little risk taken in competition, away from hardened eyes of national scrutiny. Now he takes the leap against an undefeated fighter under the bright lights of Las Vegas. “I am still trying to wrap my head around it,” explains Morrison. “This is for me one of the biggest fights I’ve ever had. I’m a country boy. My town has 2500 people in it and one stoplight. So I am a small town guy. I’ve been to Vegas one time on spring break, on our way through to California, but I was too young to go into anywhere, so I had to sit in the truck.”

On Friday night, Kenzie Morrison’s hard work will have put his family name back on the marquee in a town where his father never lost a professional fight. It will be up to Kenzie if it is a one-night only occasion, or whether there will be encores. In any event, he hopes to have earned the approval he’s only heard back on tape. 

“I know that there are going to be a lot of people watching and there are going to be a lot of comparisons, so I need to be and appear worthy of this opportunity and that’s what I plan to do,” says Morrision. “And I hope my dad is proud of me regardless, because everyone wins and loses. He knows that, and I know that too.” 

Tickets for the event, promoted by Roy Jones Jr. Boxing and Ares Entertainment, can be purchased online at AXS.com. The event is also being broadcast via pay-per-view on Fite. 

Photo by Keaton Ward

Mario Ortega Jr. can be reached at ortegajr.mario@gmail.com or followed on Twitter @MarioG280