`This Is My Lottery': Bentt To Break Bank After Stunning Tommy Morrison

TULSA, Okla. - He was a longer shot than hitting the lottery three times - off the board in Las Vegas.

But Michael Bentt predicted that "good things happen in threes," and after getting dazed and knocked to the ropes, the son of a two-time Lotto winner came roaring back and dropped Tommy Morrison three times in a startling first-round knockout Friday night.

Bentt, a four-time Daily News Golden Gloves champion, cried in his gloves 30 seconds after winning Morrison's WBO heavyweight title and positioning himself for a seven-figure payday against either Riddick Bowe or Lennox Lewis.

"This is my lottery," Bentt said before taking his unlikely 10-1 record into the ring against the man who had a $7.5 million payday waiting in March against Lewis.

Bad things seem to happen in threes to heavyweight pretenders. Earlier this year, a funny thing happened to two other heavyweights on the way to the bank. Ray Mercer, one fight from Bowe, was upset by Jesse Ferguson in February. In May, high-ranking Alex Garcia, who had a big payday with George Foreman on the table, was stopped by journeyman Mike Dixon.

Morrison, now 38-2 but with two devastating knockout losses, hurt Bentt quickly with a left hook. Bentt, who grew up in the Cambria Heights section of Queens, admitted he was "buzzed," but he was going to prove something to anyone who questioned his chin or his character.

Morrison swung away with both hands as Bentt covered up. Suddenly, he exploded with a right hand off Morrison's chin - "that's the same chin he took into the fight with Ray Mercer," said Pepe Correa, Lewis' disappointed trainer.