Kenzie Morrison carries competitive legacy of father Tommy Morrison into BKFC: 'I'm not turning anybody down'

USA Today

18-03-2025

Kenzie Morrison looked down at the large finger poking him in the chest.
'You're going to be world champion,' his father said.
Morrison, who was a child at the time, looked over toward his brother. The two boys exchanged amazed looks as they received prodigal affirmations from their father, a hulking heavyweight world boxing champion.
Morrison was born six years before his father, Tommy Morrison, retired. So it didn't really hit him until years later just how larger-than-life the figure he called 'Dad' was.
'The drive and determination that it takes someone to defy the odds that people are constantly telling them they can't do and to be so accomplished in that sport, that inspired me alone,' Morrison recently told MMA Junkie. 'He taught me little things growing up and tried to poke at me and my brother and tell us we're going to be the next world champ. We were all just like, 'Holy cow, no way.''
Morrison learned a lot from his WBO heavyweight boxing champion father, who died in 2013 at age 44. Morrison held wins over the likes of George Foreman and Donovan Ruddock among others. He also starred as in Rocky V as Tommy Gunn.
Following in his father's footsteps, he's compiled a 22-1-2 boxing record of his own. Though his father never saw him compete as a professional, Morrison fights in his honor in an attempt to make his dad proud.
'I guess growing up in that atmosphere, it seemed more normal, I guess, to be that way,' Morrison said. 'I try to raise my son that way and just try to aspire for more in life than just the regular or average. He taught me what not to do as well. There are a lot of things that he didn't have that he should've had as far as characteristics and staying on track. But I don't want to get into the bad part of everything.'
Now 34 and a decade-plus into his boxing tenure, Morrison said he is sick of the state of the sport. The gloves have come off and Morrison has signed a four-fight contract with BKFC. While his debut is not yet set, Morrison is eager to make his bareknuckle run a memorable one.
'I think I've fought for a really long time and I was able to work this all out with David (Feldman),' Morrison said. 'I think we're going to get in there and get our feet wet. I'm taking this more seriously than I've taken anything in a long time, just because of the opportunity that was presented to me, to be able to be part of such a great thing and possibly even end my career with a bareknuckle heavyweight world title. I think that would make my dad proud. I think that would open up doors for me to ultimately take care of my family and maybe even stay a part of the sport.'
Even before he put pen to paper with BKFC, Morrison was keeping a close eye on the promotion's heavyweight division. He was glued to his screen when Ben Rothwell dethroned then-heavyweight champion Mick Terrill with a brutal knockout blow at KnuckleMania 5 in January.
'I've watched a lot of the heavyweight guys,' Morrison said. 'They're all really big. They're tough and they're all great fighters in their own rights. I just think I bring a little bit different look to the table being that I'm a little quicker than most of those big guys and I can crack with both hands. Outside of street fights, I've never really gotten in there and focused on fighting with my bare knuckles. It's going to be a crazy deal. I've been working out for the last three or four weeks with just taped hands and stuff. It's just a whole different ball game.
'… I'm not turning anybody down and I'm trying to put on good fights for everybody. I want to make everyone proud of this sport and let's do it. I'm not f*cking around. I'm ready. … Size has never really worried me because I hit just as hard as those guys, I feel like. Hopefully, they can't chase me very long.'