THE DUKE THE LIFE AND LIES OF TOMMY MORRISON

APIVOTAL moment in Tommy Morrison’s career – the concussive end of his fight against Ray Mercer – serves in some ways as a fitting encapsulation of his too-short, troubled, hi-octane life. As Carlos Acevedo, in his new biography of Morrison The Duke: The Life and Lies of Tommy Morrison puts it: “The barrage begins with a right hand, a left, and a thudding right to the body. From that point on, the violent finale is inevitable”.

Morrison, on that night in 1991, in Atlantic City, took too many shots, the referee far too late stepping in – as so often, those charged with looking out for Morrison’s safety failing in their basic duty. He was in too deep, also, untested, still green, operating beyond his level against a demonstrably dangerous Mercer, former Olympic champion, no comparison to the easy touches against whom Morrison had built his padded record.

Acevedo’s book focuses on the brutality, the darkest episodes of a life abounding in them. There was violence a long way back, an abusive father, all dressed in black and with an aversion to sunlight, his often physical insistence that he be allowed to stay in the dark, glass eye and