tommy morrison: deluded duke down dead end street
Thu 04 May, 1:04 AM
Tommy Morrison, the 'Great White Hope' who turned pugilistic pariah after testing positive for the HIV virus in 1996, has always found it difficult to accept that his fighting days are over.
Now 37, neither age nor illness has withered the former WBO heavyweight champion's desire to defy common medical consensus and embark upon another attempt at a comeback.
Morrison last fought in Tokyo in November 1996, after his positive test was made public. Although not currently banned in the US, most commissions' health rules preclude him being granted a licence.
Undeterred, Morrison will re-apply for the right to fight again in Arizona and Nevada, whose Commission he also intends to sue for "HIV discrimination" and preventing him from making a living as a boxer.
"I'm looking forward to fighting someone," Morrison told the Arizona Republic this week. "It angers me that they won't let me but I'm going to try to change that.
"There's no way they should be able to kick me out of the sport for something that's harmless, unless you believe the government."
The view of his attorney Randy Lang is consistent with Morrison's belief that his virus is harmless and will ultimately disappear. Lang told the paper: "I don't think he's HIV positive any more".
Morrison said he neither knows nor cares how he caught the virus, but that it is "scientifically impossible" to get it by having sex. He was known for his bawdy lifestyle as much as for the crashing left hook which took him to the top of the world.
"Tommy was a womaniser like nothing you could imagine," his manager, the late Bill Cayton once said. "They would throw themselves at him. I guess you can only beat them off with a baseball bat for so long."
The public acclaim dried up immediately Morrison went public with the results of a second blood test, conducted shortly before a scheduled low-key fight against the journeyman Arthur Weathers.
The Weathers fight was to be Morrison's first of a series under his new promoter Don King which would culminate in a multi-million dollar showdown against Mike Tyson.
Instead of hero worship, Morrison headed straight back to his small home town of Jay, Oklahoma, to find the 'Home of World Champion Tommy Morrison' signs torn down by the roadside.
"My best friends wouldn't even wave at me," Morrison said. "These people were just complete idiots, uneducated people. No class at all."
Morrison fled with his young family and his life briefly threatened to spiral dangerously out of control. He spent 14 months in prison for drugs and firearms offences.
It was a tragic shift in fortune for a fighter they nicknamed 'The Duke', who had played a starring role in Rocky V and claimed to be a distant relative of the late John Wayne.
In the ring, Morrison won the WBO title by outpointing George Foreman in 1993. He had blond hair and dollar signs in his eyes. Not only that, but he could fight a bit too.
But when Morrison stood on the brink of his biggest breakthrough things started to unravel. Lack of focus contributed to a shocking first round knockout loss to Michael Bentt four months into his reign.
Two years later, a brawling victory over Donovan 'Razor' Ruddock set up another world title chance against Lennox Lewis in Atlantic City, which Morrison lost comprehensively inside seven rounds.
At the time, the New Jersey commission did not require fighters to take HIV tests. Once Morrison's virus was made public five months later, referee Mills Lane took his own test, which proved negative.
Morrison made his emotional announcement at a press conference in Tulsa. "I hope I can serve as a warning that living this lifestyle can only lead to one thing - and that is misery.
"I honestly thought I had a better chance of winning the lottery than contracting this disease. I've never been so wrong in my life. I thought I was bullet-proof and I'm not."
Today Morrison appears to believe he is bullet-proof after all. He is convinced that if he still has the virus at all, it is benign to the point of posing no risk to the health of either himself or his next opponent.
Whether anybody will be willing to put his theory to the test is open to question. Tommy Morrison has come through enough hard fights in his life to consider embarking upon another which he simply cannot win.
FIGHTER OF THE WEEK: Sergei Gulyakevich, the Belorussian who proved far more than the usual east European pushover in stretching Alex Arthur to seven high-octane rounds in their European title fight.
LEGEND OF THE WEEK: Duilio Loi, considered one of Italy's finest and most popular fighters, who twice beat the great Carlos Ortiz for the world light-welterweight title and lost just three times in his 14-year career.
Re: tommy morrison: deluded duke down dead end street
i liked morrison. he was a decent heavyweight and he could pack a mean wallop....at 37 though he really should try and let go of boxing. its another case of someone who just isnt willing to let it go...
Re: tommy morrison: deluded duke down dead end street
He seriously things HIV can be contracted through sex... He doesn't know what he's talking about... ALso its very dangerous in a sport like boxing for a person with a disease like this to be in... if both guys have a cut the fight would have to be stopped immediately.
Re: tommy morrison: deluded duke down dead end street
Quote:
Originally Posted by Taeth
He seriously things HIV can be contracted through sex... He doesn't know what he's talking about... ALso its very dangerous in a sport like boxing for a person with a disease like this to be in... if both guys have a cut the fight would have to be stopped immediately.
he is either seriously deluded or else very ignorant about the disease.....like i say he should really let it go, he has no future as a fighter...
Re: tommy morrison: deluded duke down dead end street
Until they find a cure for HIV/AIDS there is no way a positive fighter should be allowed to fight again. Noses bleeds, busted lips and the occasional rope burn occur in every fight. If blood is present the disease can be transmitted. Tommy has lost his mind. Until he takes and hast a negative come back on the test on thing is for certain....Tommy is going to die of AIDS in the future. Maybe not next year or even 5 years down the road, but statistics don't lie....Tommy is going to die...no sense in risking others just to satisfy a disillusioned ex-champ unwilling to let the past stay in the past. HIV=no fighting ever ..period...end of story....Sorry Tommy....
Re: tommy morrison: deluded duke down dead end street
I like Morrison, Hell I know him a little bit, But I only chat everyonce in a while. He should know more about the disease then we do, But Tommy told me that he think he got from some chick. He is a cool dude man. If he decides to comeback... It's his business, But the other fighter will have to be willing to accept the fact to exposesure too. He's been busy trying to get his life story(movie) and book together.He just had a little boy a while back that is HIV negative. He had a procedure called sperm cleansing for that reason. It works man trust me. Long live a tough fighter and good friend in the Duke!
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Re: tommy morrison: deluded duke down dead end street
I vant see tommy gettin his license back, which is a good thing for the sport and for Tommy in my eyes
Re: tommy morrison: deluded duke down dead end street
No one will fight him... I've gotten another fighters blood in my mouth before... its not really something you can control...
Re: tommy morrison: deluded duke down dead end street
Re: tommy morrison: deluded duke down dead end street
"I don't think he's HIV positive any more".
Stop the press The Duke has discovered a cure for the disease
"impossibe to catch from having sex"
Cmon man i know you want to get back into the ring but these statements are nuts!!!!
Re: tommy morrison: deluded duke down dead end street
Quote:
Originally Posted by LarryB
"I don't think he's HIV positive any more".
Stop the press The Duke has discovered a cure for the disease
"impossibe to catch from having sex"
Cmon man i know you want to get back into the ring but these statements are nuts!!!!
I guess there must be millions upon millions upon millions of drug users around the world then.
Gott say whoever is the mother of his kid is a very brave woman!
Re: tommy morrison: deluded duke down dead end street
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheDukeof74
I like Morrison, Hell I know him a little bit, But I only chat everyonce in a while. He should know more about the disease then we do, But Tommy told me that he think he got from some chick. He is a cool dude man. If he decides to comeback... It's his business, But the other fighter will have to be willing to accept the fact to exposesure too. He's been busy trying to get his life story(movie) and book together.He just had a little boy a while back that is HIV negative. He had a procedure called sperm cleansing for that reason. It works man trust me. Long live a tough fighter and good friend in the Duke!
You'd think that he'd know more about the condition than we do!!! "It is a harmless condition", "you can't get it through sexual intercourse", "it has disappeared in him"!!!!!!!!
I feel really sorry for the guy, and think that its scandelous the way that his so-called friends and fans have treared him, but this is a classic case of denial. If he wants proof, take another HIV test, I'm quite sure what the result is gonna be. While HIV in itself is a mild condition, the problem is that it leads to AIDS. Treatment is based on delaying this progression. Just because a person has HIV, it doesn't mean that that their kids will get it to. Even in mother's giving birth, the chances are low. But while they are low, the chance is still there.
The is a reason why when dealing with all patient's, especially HIV patients, we wear gloves and other protection. Even in theatre in Africa, we always double-gloved. This is much less risky than a boxing match, where blood does run freely.
