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The story of former WBF World
Middleweight Champion Darrin
“The Mongoose” Morris is, as
is often the case with boxers,
one of great highs and great
lows. He accomplished a lot in
his career, but ultimately his
story had a very sad ending.
Morris was born in 1966 in
Detroit, and became a
professional boxer twenty years
later when he made his paid
debut as a Welterweight with a
points win over one William Reid
(1-10) in December of 1986. Just
over a month later he returned
with a first-round stoppage of
debutant Juan Benitez in
Atlantic City.
In March of 1997 he fought to a
draw with another debutant
called George Greenhow, but he
won his next seven bouts
convincingly to line up a big
test against Texas State
Champion Derwin Richards
(16-6-2) on October 26, 1988,
less than 30 miles from his
home-town, at the Thomas Crystal
Gardens in Mount Clemens,
Michigan.
Co-headlining the card with
future IBF World Featherweight
Champion Tom “Boom Boom”
Johnson, and with a certain
unknown-at-the-time Middleweight
named James Toney making his
debut on the undercard, Morris
entered the fight full of
confidence. But he was quickly
brought back down to earth when
he was floored in the first
round.
After recovering from the
initial shock of finding himself
on the canvas, Morris proved
that he had it inside himself to
make it far as a boxer. He found
his focus, and gradually fought
his way back into the fight. It
was one of those encounters that
could go either way, but after
ten rounds Morris was awarded a
split decision victory.
Looking to take the next step
towards the top, Morris and his
team decided to take a fight
with highly experienced Rafael
Williams (29-5) as part of a big
show at the Felt Forum in New
York on July 27, 1989. With a
lay-off of nine months since the
Richards-victory, this was a
risky and tough task for Morris.
Among the only six people who
had managed to defeat Williams
were big names such as
Livingstone Bramble, Hector
Camacho and Pernell Whitaker,
and the 28-year-old Panamanian
had won several regional titles
during his nine years in the pro
game.
It was simply too soon for
Morris, a 10-0-1 rookie at the
time, and while he acquitted
himself well he lost a unanimous
decision after eight rounds.
Williams went on to fight many
other big names, beating the
likes of Charles Brewer and Joe
Gatti (brother of Arturo), and
challenge for WBF and IBO world
titles.
Following his first defeat, a
relationship with a promoter in
Finland, of all places, was
established, and in February of
1990 Morris fought in the Nordic
country for the first time,
beating undefeated local
prospect Hannu Vuorinen (5-0-1)
on points. He would later return
to fight in Finland four more
times.
After the nice victory in
Europe, it was quickly
sink-or-swim-time again. Having
relocated to West Palm Beach,
Florida and linked up with
legendary trainer Angelo Dundee
in Miami, Morris was booked to
fight in the main event of a
show at Deco´s Night Club in
Miami a month after returning
from overseas.
The opponent was Dominican
champion, and former IBF world
title-challenger, Reyes Antonio
Cruz (40-4-1,
without a doubt the best
opponent Morris had been matched
against at the time. Even better
than Rafael Williams, who had
defeated him less than a year
earlier.
Having only lost decisions to
Gary Hinton (for the world
title), former world champion
Saoul Mamby, former and future
world champion Hector Camacho,
whom he even knocked down, and
36-2 top-contender Mauricio
Rodriguez, Cruz had plenty of
ambition left and was on a
mission to secure a second crack
at world honors.
But young Darrin Morris was on
top of his game on that warm
Florida evening, and stunned the
crowd when he totally dominated
his more accomplished foe,
scoring three knock-downs on the
way to a very impressive fourth
round stoppage victory.
Now 12-1-1, and basking in the
glory of his best victory by
far, Morris was eager to build
on his momentum. The following
March he took on Kevin Pompey
(18-3-1), also known as “Mr.
Excitement”, in Albany, New York
for the lightly regarded IBC
Welterweight crown.
And unfortunately it was again
back down to earth for Morris,
after flying high, as Pompey won
by unanimous decision after
twelve competitive rounds.
Pompey being true world class
there was no shame in the
defeat, in fact one judge only
had a difference of two points,
and it would actually be the
last time Morris ever lost a
fight in the ring.
He rebounded in November of
1990, back in Finland, with a
points-win over future Russian
national champion Mikhail Shirin
(2-0-2), and returned to Florida
hoping he would soon get an
opportunity to shine in a major
fight. It took some time, but
the opportunity came.
With the vacant WBF Middleweight
World championship at stake,
Morris was pitted against tough
New Jersey contender Ron
Amundsen (20-5-1), who just four
months earlier had lost a
decision to Italian Gianfranco
Rossi for the IBF World Super
Welterweight title.
The four additional blemishes on
Amundsen´s record had come
against world champions-to-be
Dave Hilton (L10), Roy Jones Jr.
(TKO7) and James Toney (L10),
and former and future champion
Vinny Pazienza (L12), so he was
considered a very live horse in
the race against Morris on July
29, 1991 at the Miami Beach
Convention Center.
In the same venue where Muhammad
Ali beat Sonny Liston in 1964,
and with Ali watching from
ringside along with fellow
Heavyweight-notables George
Foreman, Evander Holyfield,
Pinklon Thomas and Earnie
Shavers, Morris put on a
wonderful performance,
repeatedly beating Amundsen to
the punch en-route to a
unanimous decision.
Winning the WBF World
Middleweight title in convincing
fashion, despite in reality
still being only a Super
Welterweight, was a testament
that Morris had not been hurt by
the loss to Kevin Pompey. Some
would even say it made him a
better fighter, and his future
looked bright.
His first title-defense was
eventually scheduled for March
2, 1992 in Helsinki, Finland
against dangerous New York-based
Puerto Rican Jorge Maysonet
(22-9), who had won all his
twenty-two victories by
stoppage, and had challenged
Simon Brown for the IBF World
Welterweight championship in
1989.
It is safe to say that, at this
point, Maysonet had seen better
days in the ring, but he was
still a risky proposition for
Morris, who was still not a real
Middleweight. But he handled the
challenge as a true champion,
taking control of the fight and
eventually stopping Maysonet in
the tenth round.
Morris decided to vacate his
Middleweight world championship
and concentrate on winning a
second title at Super
Welterweight, and six months
after the Maysonet fight he was
back in Helsinki to take on
Russian Southpaw Akhmet Dottuev
(4-0-1) in a non-title
ten-rounder.
Morris beat the inexperienced
Dottuev on points, and it would
later prove to be a good
victory. The Russian would not
lose again until challenging
Julio Cesar Vasquez for the WBA
World title in 1994, and in
years to come he was considered
a tough-to-beat contender.
Back in the USA, Morris beat
Jeff Johnson (16-4-1) in July of
1993, and continued to build on
his credibility as a Super
Welterweight contender when he
stopped John Wesley Meekins
(24-3-2) in eleven rounds the
following October. Meekins had
challenged Meldrick Taylor for
the IBF World Light Welterweight
crown in 1989.
After an easy second-round
blow-out of journeyman Joe
Harris (5-9) in Nassau, Bahamas
in May 1994, Morris traveled to
Quebec, Canada to take on
undefeated local hope Stephane
Ouellet (13-0) for the vacant
IBC Super Welterweight belt.
Morris stopped Ouellet in six
rounds, and appeared to be well
on his way back to the very top
in a second weight class. But
despite six more victories,
including a fourth round
stoppage of former WBF World
Champion
Tommy Small (32-10), it was
never to be.
Personal problems, including a
career-threatening eye injury,
put a halt to the progress of
Morris´ career, and after a low
profile KO1 victory over Elwood
Barlett (4-4) in September 1997,
it would be almost two years
before he returned to the ring.
In July 1999 Morris headlined a
show at the National Guard
Armory in West Palm Beach, as a
Super Middleweight, stopping
David McCluskey (17-59-5) in
round three. This would turn out
to be the last fight for Morris
in the ring, his final record
standing at 28-2-1 (17).
But it would not be his last
fight outside the ring. Morris
was diagnosed with HIV not long
after the McCluskey fight, and
was in a fight for his life.
Sadly, this was a fight he
tragically lost and on October
17 2000 he died of HIV-related
meningitis. He was only 34 years
of age.
As an almost comic side-note, if
something comic can be taken
from such a sad turn of events,
Morris would make headlines
after his death, when a story
broke that the World Boxing
Organization (WBO) had him not
only ranked, but also improving
in their rankings, long after he
had passed away.
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