John Morrissey - Legacy

Legacy

• In 1996 he was elected to the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
• Morrissey was featured on a portion of the History Channel documentary, "Paddy Whacked, The History of the Irish Mob."
• Prizefighter Johnny Morrissey is the hero in a popular Irish ballad called "Morrissey and the Russian Sailor." Though the ballad has several variations, most versions include some phrases that connect the song's hero with the historical John Morrissey: his Irish birthplace in Templemore, County Tipperary; his status as a champion fighter, signified by a prize belt; his defeat of Thompson/Thomson and of 'the Yankee,' among others. The main story in the ballad, however—an heroic prizefight against a Russian sailor in Tierra del Fuego—does not seem to be historically documented. One version of the song was printed as a broadsheet by E.C. Yeats's Cuala Press in 1911; a digitized image of it has been posted by Villanova University Library. There are a number of other ballads written about Morrissey including "Morrissey and the Black," "Morrissey Again in the Field," and "The Fight at Boston Corners." Three of them are documented the book, Songs of England, Ireland and Scotland: A Bonnie Bunch of Roses by Dan Milner (Oak Publications).
• He is an ancestor of Joseph D. Morrissey, an American politician and former lawyer currently serving in the Virginia House of Delegates.