TEXAS SAYS THEY NEED MORE MEDICAL INFORMATION TO GIVE MORRISON A LICENSE
http://www.mmanews.com/boxing/Texas-...-Morrison.html
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HOUSTON (AP) -- Former heavyweight champion Tommy Morrison needs to give more medical information to state officials before they rule on his boxing license application for Friday's fight.
The 38-year-old former WBO champ returned to boxing this year after retiring 11 years ago when tests revealed he was HIV positive. He is to face Dale Ortiz in a four-round bout at the Grand Plaza Hotel in Houston.
Patrick Shaughnessy, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, could not say whether the additional medical information concerned Morrison's HIV status. He said state officials expected to receive the information Thursday and a decision on the application most likely will come the same day.
Morrison won the WBO title in 1993 by outpointing George Foreman, but lost the title later that year. In February 1996, he tested HIV positive just before a fight against Stormy Weathers and retired. Morrison returned to the ring in February with a second-round knockout of John Castle in West Virginia.
West Virginia Athletic commissioner Steve Allred approved Morrison's participation in that fight after reviewing medical records and consulting with the Association of Boxing Commissions' medical review committee.
Shaughnessy said applicants for Texas boxing licenses are required to submit to blood tests screening for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV. Those testing positive are barred from receiving a license.
Morrison has said he has taken several HIV tests while preparing for his comeback and all have been negative. According to the National Institutes for Health, drugs can suppress the human immunodeficiency virus to undetectable levels but cannot eliminate it from the body.
