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The Chippewa Herald

Wednesday 22 November 2006

MORRISON READY TO
MAKE A STATEMENT

Story by John Harrison

On Monday morning I made a visit to Jackie Goldberg's South Bridge Street boxing gym hoping to get an interview with the latest talent to come off his production line, the hard-hitting middleweight Jake Morrison. When I walked through the door Morrison was over in a corner going through a series of warm-up exercises but within moments Jackie made it clear to me that Morrison doesn't talk to the media. As a compromise I asked Jackie if he would talk to me about Jake and he had no problem with that. I found out that journalists aren't the only people the 26 year-old slugger refuses to converse with. I'd heard the stories before about him being a difficult man to deal with and Goldberg didn't hesitate to confirm them as being absolutely true. He described his charge as hot-headed, ill-tempered, aggressive and hostile, adding that Morrison has "a chip on his shoulder the size of Mount Everest".

"Ever since I've known him there's been this barely controllable rage constantly burning beneath the surface," Goldberg said, glancing over at the fighter. "Three years and I was never able to persuade him to open up about it, so I just gave up eventually and accepted that's how he is. I've never met anyone who appears to have as many demons inside them as Jake does. There's a sinister, scary, dark vibe about him and that's attracted some people to him but it's repelled a whole lot of others. Some say he's like one of those characters in the WWE, but it ain't an act. He really is all those things I've described him as. There aren't many people in the world he can stand being around but I just happen to be one of them and that's why our arrangement works."

Morrison's involvement with the sweet science only came about because of his association with Goldberg. Back in early 2003 he was a young man walking a path of destruction that was going to take him to an early grave. Morrison was angry and directionless, unable to hold down a job for more than a couple of months at a time. His inability to control his emotions would lead to constant run-ins with co-workers and supervisors and almost resulted in some serious criminal charges. All it took to change his life was one incident of an individual returning Morrison's hostility with assistance and goodwill, advice that led Jake to South Bridge Street, where he found an outlet for his pent-up frustrations. Despite the fact that he packed one helluva punch Morrison had never before considered the possibility of a boxing career and during those early weeks and months with Goldberg it looked like his stubborness might sabotage any chance of it happening before it had even begun.

However, Goldberg was eventually able to overcome Morrison's headstrong attitude and convince him that he had a future in the sport. After learning his trade during two years in the amateur ranks Morrison made his professional debut in July 2005 and went undefeated and untroubled through his first eight professional bouts, each of which ended inside the distance. Morrison was building a reputation as a frightening power-puncher, a hard-hitting aggressor who was merciless on his opponents and enjoyed inflicting pain. He signed a contract with the International Boxing League and was held in such high regard that they placed him in their middleweight division Challenger's tournament, where his opening bout would be against England's 2004 Olympics bronze medallist Nigel Benn on June 25. In a bout that indicated he might not be quite ready for the big time yet Morrison was sent crashing to his first defeat, Benn destroying him inside of two rounds.

"That loss really screwed him up for a couple of weeks," Goldberg reflected. "See, in his head Jake felt he was invincible and for Benn to come along and make it known so comprehensively that it wasn't true ... that kind of put him in shock. He felt like everything he'd achieved to that point was now worthless because everyone knew he was beatable. The aura was shattered and he found that hard to accept. It took me some time to build him back up from that and get him thinking positively again."

Goldberg clearly did a great job at that because in his next bout Morrison scored an upset 8th round TKO victory over Oakland's former world title challenger Marvin Blanks. Even though Blanks brought a two-fight losing streak into the evening he was expected to be too experienced for Morrison to handle but that belief was blown away by an outstanding showing from the Chippewa Falls slugger. While his efforts in overcoming Blanks were fantastic, Morrison has since told Goldberg that he wants to produce the type of performance in his next outing that will "make a statement". That bout will be a headliner against Bronx native Davey Moore in New York on December 24. It's a huge fight for both men as the winner could be ranked as high as #12 when the IBL releases its initial middleweight world rankings on Christmas day.

"Jake's told me he wants to get it over early," said Goldberg. "He wants to bring back the Jake Morrison who was destroying guys within two rounds when he started. I've said to him that'll be all fine and good but if it doesn't turn out that way he can't get frustrated and lose his focus. I don't care if it goes the distance, I just want the kid to win."

Towards the end of my stay Goldberg took Morrison through a series of drills on the hand pads and watching the man train it was obvious to me that he won't stop until he has reached the top of the middleweight mountain. He may have anger management issues and he may be hostile and inhospitable and downright nasty. I still don't know why that's the case but right now I don't really care, because he's also a fearfully fantastic fighter. I went to Jackie Goldberg's gym on Monday hoping to get an insight into what makes Jake Morrison tick. I left being little the wiser but one thing I'm confident of is that in the times to come the name Jake Morrison will strike fear into the top contenders of the middleweight division. I'm hoping that in three or four years from now we can all look back on this article and say that I was absolutely correct.