Kenzie Morrison was always proud to follow in his father’s footsteps when he decided to become a professional boxer but the state of affairs in the sport he’s always loved left him a bit jaded.
As the son of former heavyweight champion Tommy Morrison, who also rose to fame for his appearance alongside Sylvester Stallone in Rocky V, the 34-year-old fighter definitely got more attention than the average fighter making his way up the ranks. But despite putting together a 22-1-2 record, Morrison says delays in booking fights and the stagnant nature of sport forced him to look for other options outside of boxing.
So now Morrison is signed with BKFC where he hopes to make a whole different kind of impact when he takes the gloves off for his first bare-knuckle fight on Friday.
“It all just really started with the state of boxing being where it is,” Morrison told MMA Fighting about leaving boxing for BKFC. “There’s just a lot of problems that they need to figure out and in the midst of that, I feel like there’s a lot of great fighters with a lot of talent that are being shelved due to the state of it.
“It’s really just the YouTube influencer boxing and it’s changed to where it’s not the best fight the best. It’s more about the most followed fight the most followed for the most money. Everybody is making it a side show. I think BKFC is where I’m supposed to be. I prayed about it and I’m disappointed that I have to leave boxing in a way but I also know I have the opportunity of a lifetime.”
As much as he didn’t enjoy the rise of influencer boxing, Morrison admits he tried to embrace it after he first saw Jake Paul make an impact with his devastating knockout on the undercard of an event headlined by Mike Tyson and Roy Jones Jr.
He attempted to pursue that opportunity mostly out of necessity because there just weren’t meaningful fights available to him within the rankings of the heavyweight division.
“Whenever you couldn’t take the fights that you were supposed to take to improve your rankings because these fights are drug out so long, these mandatory challenges after a defeat and they take a year and these top 10 guys fight once a year,” Morrison explained. “So if you’re in the top 20 and you’re sitting there waiting, it’s just a crazy deal.
“So I was waiting and I saw Jake Paul come into the sport and I was actually sitting in a deer stand whenever he fought Nate Robinson and knocked him out, I called him out on a YouTube video way back when. I just did it for shits and giggles. As it grew and grew, it was like hell yeah and I was challenging him and I said I would fight him for free just to kind of end the whole ordeal. Just because I knew what it was doing to the sport. My goal all along was to become a traditional boxing champion the way that my dad did and the way that my brother was attempting to follow his career. To chase the family legacy and leave something for my son.”
While he’ll always love boxing because it’s the sport he shared with his father and his brother, Morrison is also happy to walk his own path starting with his debut at BKFC 76.
He’s proud to carry on his family’s name because he loves being known as Tommy Morrisons’s son but Kenzie is also excited for the chance to claim a championship in bare-knuckle fighting.
“I was lucky enough for [my dad] to be so successful that he left me a legacy,” Morrison said. “Carved me a way to try boxing. If he was here, I think that whole thing would have went different. But I’m also grateful to be able to create my own legacy. I’m grateful that David Feldman was able to help me out. He’s excited about it. I think everybody’s excited about it and I just want to make it worth it.
“My whole goal of fighting is not just because I love it but because I use it to take care of my family. I want to make my mom and my dad proud. That’s really the drive that I have everyday when I wake up.”
Of course competing at heavyweight in bare-knuckle, Morrison knows there’s plenty of potential danger awaiting him but he’s embraced every aspect of his new job.
He’s certainly not oblivious to the differences between traditional boxing and bare-knuckle fighting so he took his time getting ready and now Morrison plans to unleash fury on Friday night.
“It only takes one,” Morrison said about getting hit at heavyweight. “I just keep telling everybody I’m a little bit nervous but I’m a whole lot determined. I’ve been fighting long enough to know that I try to be professional about it, I don’t let a lot of emotions get involved. But yeah, it’s nerve-racking and different but we’re coming.”
