Big George Foreman vs Tommy “The Duke” Morrison Tomorrow on Versus

LAS VEGAS, NV (October 11, 2006) — Tomorrow! Thursday, October 12, at 9 p.m. ET, VERSUS (formerly OLN) will televise the fourth installment of “Fight Night: Top Rank’s Legends of the Ring,” hosted by Michael Buffer. This week’s classic features the rarely-seen WBO heavyweight championship bout between Big George Foreman and Tommy “The Duke” Morrison.

Fighting for the vacant WBO title, June 7, 1993, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Morrison, nicknamed “The Duke” because he was related to movie star John Wayne, confounded all the experts. Instead of using his usual style of blasting away at his opponent, Morrison’s trainer Tommy Virgets programmed Morrison to box the perfect fight needed to beat Foreman – to keep hitting him and moving around him, never staying in front of him for too long. A lesson world champion Michael Moorer should have heeded when Big George fought him next. Foreman, 45, would knock Moorer out to become the oldest heavyweight champion.

“Fight Night: Top Rank’s Legends of the Ring,” will air during the weeks between the live events of “Fight Night” and will feature classic bouts from Top Rank’s extensive library, dating back to 1966, many which have not been seen since their original airing. In addition to seeing the fight in its entirety, each episode will also include the back-story of each fight as it happened — plus many will be enhanced to include interviews with the contenders, pre-fight press conferences, the weigh-in, and behind-the-scenes banter between the participants.

“Fight Night: Top Rank’s Legends of the Ring,” made its debut on August 3, with the 15-round Muhammad Ali- Oscar Bonavena NABF title fight, which took place on December 7, 1970. The series has also aired Ali-Norton I, “the broken jaw fight,” from 1973 and Ali-Frazier II from 1974. Other classic fights scheduled to air this year include:

* Duran’s Comeback: Duran vs. Cuevas & Duran vs. Moore
* Hagler vs. Antuofermo I
* Hearns vs. Barkley I & II
* Arguello vs. Mancini
* Carbajal vs. Gonzales I & II
* De La Hoya vs. Brehahl