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On September 1, 2013, Tommy Morrison, American boxer (WBO heavyweight title 1993) and actor (Rocky V), died of AIDS at the age of 44. From the article:
"Tommy Morrison died Sunday night of an undisclosed illness. But for all intents and purposes, he died of denial.
In 1996, Morrison was diagnosed with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. In 1997, he told me he was still having unprotected sex with his first wife.
"I'll trust an attorney before I'll trust a doctor," he said.
I'm not sure how many wives he ended up with (I lost count after the fourth), but nothing ever changed. His last wife, Trisha, recently told ESPN.com's Elizabeth Merrill that they, too, had had unprotected sex. As far as Tommy was concerned, his HIV never existed. He searched high and low for rogue doctors who would assure him he was fine, who would clear him to go back to boxing. He was nothing without boxing, nothing without sex -- so he looked the other way.
He tried AZT for a month and threw it in the trash; he thought the HIV therapy drug taken by most HIV patients was propoganda. His family staged an intervention to get him back on meds, but he cursed at them and said, "I will lay down and die before I take any drugs." Magic Johnson tried to reach out to him in 1996 -- the same Magic Johnson who is thriving 22 years after his own HIV diagnosis -- and Tommy Morrison plum ignored him.
"I remember talking to Magic the day I announced I had HIV," Morrison told me in 1998. "He was preaching, 'Do what your doctor tells you.' Well, I didn't have a doctor then, so I got down on my knees and I prayed. Every day, I was like, 'God, what do I do?' Hell, I saw myself dying. And then I started getting all these books in the mail, and they all said, 'Don't worry about it. Just live your life.' So that's what I did."
Morrison was a distant relative of John Wayne. But the problem was he lived his whole life like he was in the Wild West. His mother gave him his first tattoo. And his father gave him his first woman -- at a strip club when Tommy was 14.
They entered him, as an eighth-grader, in "tough man" contests. In other words, his parents essentially signed him up for bar fights. That's how he made his name. That and setting fire to his high school football field when he was cut from the team.
The best thing he had going was his blue eyes, his blond hair and muscles on top of muscles. He moved to Kansas City, got a promoter and entered the fight game. Morrison would later admit to me that he was on steroids, but Sylvester Stallone couldn't take his eyes off of him and cast him as Tommy Gunn in "Rocky V."
As a writer for the New York Times, I later watched him defeat 44-year-old George Foreman in Las Vegas for a heavyweight title. That night, while they were clenching seconds before the final bell, Foreman whispered to the new champ: "Don't curse in public." Morrison must not have heard him.
He would later be arrested for multiple DUIs and was always allegedly profane with the police officers. Morrison and Stallone had had a falling out by then. So had Tommy and his trainer. But Bill Cayton was his manager, and had Morrison not been diagnosed with HIV, Cayton was about to get him a deal to fight Mike Tyson. The hype would have been through the roof, or at least through the MGM Grand.
But after the diagnosis, Morrison became a pariah. His words were mumbled and nonsensical. His family assumed he contracted HIV from a dirty steroid needle, but there was no discussing it with him, no discussing anything with him. Before the new millennium, he bought a cave, convinced that the world was coming to an end at the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1, 2000. That's where he slept on Dec. 31, 1999 -- delusional then, and obviously in the years to come.
He had a good heart. That was never the issue. He was friendly, would talk to any kid. But he would also talk to animals, too. He once did an interview with me with his cat in his arms.
He died Sunday at the age of 44, the same age Foreman was when Morrison beat him for the title. Hopefully, he finally took George's advice. Hopefully, Tommy Morrison wasn't cursing at the end."
"Tommy Morrison died Sunday night of an undisclosed illness. But for all intents and purposes, he died of denial.
In 1996, Morrison was diagnosed with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. In 1997, he told me he was still having unprotected sex with his first wife.
"I'll trust an attorney before I'll trust a doctor," he said.
I'm not sure how many wives he ended up with (I lost count after the fourth), but nothing ever changed. His last wife, Trisha, recently told ESPN.com's Elizabeth Merrill that they, too, had had unprotected sex. As far as Tommy was concerned, his HIV never existed. He searched high and low for rogue doctors who would assure him he was fine, who would clear him to go back to boxing. He was nothing without boxing, nothing without sex -- so he looked the other way.
He tried AZT for a month and threw it in the trash; he thought the HIV therapy drug taken by most HIV patients was propoganda. His family staged an intervention to get him back on meds, but he cursed at them and said, "I will lay down and die before I take any drugs." Magic Johnson tried to reach out to him in 1996 -- the same Magic Johnson who is thriving 22 years after his own HIV diagnosis -- and Tommy Morrison plum ignored him.
"I remember talking to Magic the day I announced I had HIV," Morrison told me in 1998. "He was preaching, 'Do what your doctor tells you.' Well, I didn't have a doctor then, so I got down on my knees and I prayed. Every day, I was like, 'God, what do I do?' Hell, I saw myself dying. And then I started getting all these books in the mail, and they all said, 'Don't worry about it. Just live your life.' So that's what I did."
Morrison was a distant relative of John Wayne. But the problem was he lived his whole life like he was in the Wild West. His mother gave him his first tattoo. And his father gave him his first woman -- at a strip club when Tommy was 14.
They entered him, as an eighth-grader, in "tough man" contests. In other words, his parents essentially signed him up for bar fights. That's how he made his name. That and setting fire to his high school football field when he was cut from the team.
The best thing he had going was his blue eyes, his blond hair and muscles on top of muscles. He moved to Kansas City, got a promoter and entered the fight game. Morrison would later admit to me that he was on steroids, but Sylvester Stallone couldn't take his eyes off of him and cast him as Tommy Gunn in "Rocky V."
As a writer for the New York Times, I later watched him defeat 44-year-old George Foreman in Las Vegas for a heavyweight title. That night, while they were clenching seconds before the final bell, Foreman whispered to the new champ: "Don't curse in public." Morrison must not have heard him.
He would later be arrested for multiple DUIs and was always allegedly profane with the police officers. Morrison and Stallone had had a falling out by then. So had Tommy and his trainer. But Bill Cayton was his manager, and had Morrison not been diagnosed with HIV, Cayton was about to get him a deal to fight Mike Tyson. The hype would have been through the roof, or at least through the MGM Grand.
But after the diagnosis, Morrison became a pariah. His words were mumbled and nonsensical. His family assumed he contracted HIV from a dirty steroid needle, but there was no discussing it with him, no discussing anything with him. Before the new millennium, he bought a cave, convinced that the world was coming to an end at the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1, 2000. That's where he slept on Dec. 31, 1999 -- delusional then, and obviously in the years to come.
He had a good heart. That was never the issue. He was friendly, would talk to any kid. But he would also talk to animals, too. He once did an interview with me with his cat in his arms.
He died Sunday at the age of 44, the same age Foreman was when Morrison beat him for the title. Hopefully, he finally took George's advice. Hopefully, Tommy Morrison wasn't cursing at the end."
Morrison's wild ride ended by denial
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Tommy Morrison: Boxing Documentary
Documentary on Heavyweight champion boxer Tommy Morrison, his life and career. Tommy Morrison (born January 2, 1969) is an American heavyweight boxer and a f...
Thank you my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that on September 1, 2013 American boxer (WBO heavyweight title 1993) and actor (Rocky V), Tommy David Morrison died of AIDS at the age of 44.
Documentary on Heavyweight champion boxer Tommy Morrison, his life and career.
Tommy Morrison (born January 2, 1969) is an American heavyweight boxer and a former World Boxing Organization champion. He lost only three out of a total of 52 professional fights. Morrison's nickname, "The Duke," is based on disputed claims that he is a grandnephew of Hollywood star John Wayne. Morrison was a co-star with Sylvester Stallone in the 1990 boxing movie Rocky V.
Morrison's professional boxing career ended for many years when he tested positive for HIV in 1996. Beginning in 2006, Morrison attempted a comeback, stating his HIV diagnosis was negative.
Morrison started his professional boxing career on November 10, 1988, with a first-round knockout of William Muhammad in New York City. Three weeks later, he scored another first-round knockout. In 1989, Morrison had 19 wins and no losses, 15 by knockout.
In 1991, Morrison, already the recipient of much television exposure, won fights against opponents James Quick Tillis and former world champion Pinklon Thomas. He was given an opportunity to face fellow undefeated fighter Ray Mercer, the WBO title holder in a Pay Per View card held on October 18, 1991. Morrison suffered the first loss of his career, losing by 5th round knockout. Morrison had six wins in 1992, including fights with Art Tucker and Joe Hipp, who would later become the first Native American to challenge for the world heavyweight title. In the Hipp fight, held June 19, 1992, Morrison was suffering from what was later discovered to be a broken hand and broken jaw, but rallied to score a knockout in the ninth round. After two wins in 1993, including one over two-time world title challenger Carl "The Truth" Williams, Morrison found himself fighting for the WBO title again, against heavyweight boxing legend George Foreman, who was himself making a comeback. As both men were famed for their punching power, an exciting battle was expected, but Morrison chose to avoid brawling with Foreman and spent the fight boxing from long range. Morrison was able to hit and move effectively in this manner, and after a closely contested bout he won a unanimous 12-round decision and the WBO title.
Morrison's first title defense was scheduled against Mike Williams, but when Williams withdrew on the night of the fight, Tim Tomashek stood in as a replacement. Although Tomashek had been prepared to fight as a backup plan, some news reports created the impression that he had just been pulled out of the crowd. The WBO later rescinded their sanctioning of this fight due to Tomashek's lack of experience. Almost immediately, talks of a fight with WBC champion Lennox Lewis began, but were halted when virtually unknown Michael Bentt upset Morrison in his next bout. Bentt knocked Morrison down three times, and the fight was stopped in the first round in front of a live HBO Boxing audience. Morrison recovered by winning three bouts in a row in 1994, but his last fight of the year, against Ross Puritty, ended with a draw.
Morrison won three fights in 1995 before meeting former #1 contender Razor Ruddock. Ruddock dropped Morrison to his knees in the first round, but Morrison recovered to force a standing count in round two and compete on even terms for five rounds. In the sixth round, Ruddock hurt Morrison with a quick combination, but just as it seemed Morrison was in trouble, he countered with a tremendous hook that put Ruddock on the canvas. Ruddock regained his feet, but Morrison drove him to the ropes and showered him with an extended flurry of blows. Just as the bell was about to sound, the referee stepped in and declared Morrison the winner by TKO.
The much-anticipated fight with Lewis, who had also lost his world championship, finally took place following the Ruddock match. Morrison was knocked out in the sixth round."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlEW1wpStAM
Images:
1. Tommy Morrison (right) in fight with George Foreman
2. Tommy Morrison and his first wife Dawn Freeman mother of Tristan Morrison
3. Tommy Morrison, who beat the great George Foreman in 1993, never believed he had HIV
4. Dawn Gilbert Morrison [2nd wife] and Tommy Morrison with Tristan Morrison and Dawn's son Kyson
Biographies:
1. okhistory.org
2. http://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/1305818/tommy-morrison-drugs-denial-and-finally-death
1. Background from {[ https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=MO034]}
MORRISON, TOMMY DAVID (1969–2013) written by Jon D. May.
Possessing knockout power and a weak chin, Tommy "The Duke" Morrison brought excitement to boxing's heavyweight division during the 1990s. ("The Duke" nickname derived from Morrison's unsubstantiated claim he was the grandnephew of Hollywood movie legend John Wayne.) Born in Gravette, Arkansas, on January 2, 1969, Morrison was raised in Jay, Oklahoma, where he began boxing at age ten. Participating in Golden Gloves competitions, he culminated his amateur career at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials. There Morrison dropped a split decision to Ray Mercer, who subsequently won the gold medal in the heavyweight division at the Seoul Summer Olympics.
Making his professional debut in October 1988, Morrison won his first twenty-eight bouts, including twenty-three by knockout. In 1990 he landed a role in the movie Rocky V, portraying the character Tommy "The Machine" Gunn opposite Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa. Returning to the ring, Morrison suffered his first defeat when he met Ray Mercer for the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) heavyweight championship. The former amateur rivals squared off on October 18, 1991, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, with Mercer winning via fifth-round knockout.
Morrison rebounded from the loss with eight consecutive knockout wins. The six-foot-two, two-hundred-fifteen-pound fighter was a fan favorite and a staple of cable and network boxing telecasts. Against top competition Morrison fought through injuries and was often knocked to the canvas. On more than one occasion he rallied from near defeat to score a knockout victory with his trademark left hook.
Morrison received a second chance at the WBO heavyweight championship when he faced former and future world heavyweight champion George Foreman in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 6, 1993. Wary of Foreman's legendary punching power, Morrison boxed smartly and won by unanimous decision. His title reign was brief, however, as on October 29, 1993, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he lost in his second title defense to unheralded challenger Michael Bennt by first round knockout.
Over his next eight fights Morrison registered seven wins and a draw. Included was a stoppage victory over Donovan "Razor" Ruddick to win the International Boxing Council heavyweight title and a knockout lose to two-time world champion Lennox Lewis. In 1996 Morrison was suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission after a blood test indicated he had HIV. Morrison announced his retirement, but subsequent negative medical tests caused him to deny his illness. Granted a boxing license in West Virginia, Morrison had two bouts before retiring in 2008 with a final record of 48 wins, 3 loses, and 1 draw with 42 wins by knockout.
In the 1990s Morrison was plagued by health, personal, and legal issues. As early as 1993 he faced charges of assault and public intoxication. During the mid-1990s he was arrested multiple times for various offenses, and in January 2000 he received a two-year prison sentence at the Southwest Arkansas Community Correction Center in Texarkana.
Morrison's health steadily declined following his parole in 2001. Bedridden the final year of his life, Tommy Morrison died on September 1, 2013, in Omaha, Nebraska, from AIDS complications and was buried in Butler Creek Cemetery at Sulphur Springs, Arkansas. His sons, Trey Lippe Morrison and Kenzie Witt, are professional boxers.
Bibliography
Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City), 30 July 2000, 3 September 2013.
"Tommy Morrison," Vertical File, Research Division, Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City."
2. Background from {[ https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/1305818/tommy-morrison-drugs-denial-and-finally-death]}
The tragic tale of Tommy Morrison: Drugs, denial and finally death
The talented heavyweight had the world at his feet before his recklessness ended it all
Tommy Morrison was just a few hours away from a comeback bout that was supposed to lead him to Mike Tyson when he got the news inside the crowded casino at the MGM Grand hotel.
Chances are he already knew what was coming. A few days earlier he had refused to take a blood test mandated by Nevada boxing authorities, citing religious objections. He took it only after being told that without it he would not fight.
Morrison had tested positive for the HIV virus. Instead of fighting for the heavyweight title, he would now be in for the fight of his life.
‘As a white fighter, you get twice as much criticism. You have more to prove than black or Hispanic fighters’ Tommy Morrison
It seemed impossible. The blond Adonis who had beaten the fearsome George Foreman for the heavyweight title and starred with Sylvester Stallone in Rocky V was too fit, too strong, to carry the dreaded virus. Magic Johnson testing positive a few years earlier was shocking enough, but now a heavyweight contender with HIV, too?
Morrison quickly got on a plane back to his native Oklahoma. The fights that night went on without him, and the crowd booed when told he wasn't fighting for undisclosed medical reasons.
Morrison would end up living another 17 years before he died last Sunday in a Nebraska hospital at the age of 44. But life as he knew it was over. There would be no Tyson fight. No more multimillion-dollar paydays. No more movies with Stallone.
"This is not a death sentence, by any means," he insisted a few months later.
But for the troubled Morrison, it was. He spent much of the remainder of his life in a fog of drugs and denial. Occasionally he would resurface, like he did in 2007 when he tried to resurrect his boxing career at the age of 38 in a fight for a few hundred dollars at a racetrack in West Virginia.
He had once blamed his HIV diagnosis on a fast and reckless lifestyle. Now he made an even more outlandish claim - that he never had the virus.
"The bottom line is we passed every test on the market, even one they don't have on the market," Morrison told me a few days before the fight in West Virginia. "That tells me it was never there."
Drugs and denial. They combined to kill Morrison just as surely as the HIV he claimed he never had.
A few weeks ago, his mother told an
ESPN.com
writer that Morrison still believed he never had the virus. But she said he had Aids and she was hoping that he would die peacefully.
He had long since blown through the estimated US$16 million he made in the ring, long since given up on the idea of fighting again. Life wasn't a Rocky movie, and there would be no miracle saving him at the end.
Twenty years earlier, his future seemed to have no limit. With flowing blond hair, a chiselled body and a powerful left hook, he was a star in the heavyweight division, carefully guided by promoter Bob Arum into a title fight with Foreman.
"If I don't win," Morrison said, "people will throw me in the heap with Duane Bobick, Jerry Quarry and Gerry Cooney. As a white fighter, you get twice as much criticism. You have more to prove than black or Hispanic fighters."
But on June 7, 1993, he did win, outboxing Foreman with a smart and disciplined game plan that took Foreman's vaunted power away. Boxing had a fresh young star, and he was welcomed back to his hometown of Jay, Oklahoma, with a huge sign near the country store proclaiming the town the birthplace of the heavyweight champ.
But "The Duke" - he claimed a distant kinship with John Wayne - would get knocked out in the first a few months later by Michael Bentt in a homecoming bout in Tulsa. He took a bloody beating from Lennox Lewis two years later, but signed with Don King and was being groomed for a fight with Tyson when he was given a tune-up fight against journeyman Art Weathers in February 1996.
Nevada was one of the few states testing for HIV at the time, and Morrison was sent to a doctor for a pre-fight physical and blood test. State boxing officials weren't sure why he didn't want his blood taken, only that he would not be allowed to fight unless it was.
The positive test stunned boxing, a sport that was especially vulnerable to HIV transmission because of close proximity of fighters to each other and the very real possibility of cuts and blood mixing.
‘The bottom line is we passed every test on the market, even one they don't have on the market. That tells me it was never there’ Tommy Morrison
Mills Lane, who refereed Morrison's bloody fight with Lewis a few months earlier, got himself tested the day after Morrison's result was announced to make sure he hadn't got the virus from Morrison's blood.
NBA great Johnson called Morrison a few days later, urging him to stay upbeat and fight the disease. Johnson said Morrison was listening, but he wasn't sure he had heard.
The folks in Jay, meanwhile, took the big sign down. Morrison didn't blame them, saying most people thought HIV was "a loser's virus".
His hometown had deserted him. His career was over.
The long downward spiral had begun."
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Documentary on Heavyweight champion boxer Tommy Morrison, his life and career.
Tommy Morrison (born January 2, 1969) is an American heavyweight boxer and a former World Boxing Organization champion. He lost only three out of a total of 52 professional fights. Morrison's nickname, "The Duke," is based on disputed claims that he is a grandnephew of Hollywood star John Wayne. Morrison was a co-star with Sylvester Stallone in the 1990 boxing movie Rocky V.
Morrison's professional boxing career ended for many years when he tested positive for HIV in 1996. Beginning in 2006, Morrison attempted a comeback, stating his HIV diagnosis was negative.
Morrison started his professional boxing career on November 10, 1988, with a first-round knockout of William Muhammad in New York City. Three weeks later, he scored another first-round knockout. In 1989, Morrison had 19 wins and no losses, 15 by knockout.
In 1991, Morrison, already the recipient of much television exposure, won fights against opponents James Quick Tillis and former world champion Pinklon Thomas. He was given an opportunity to face fellow undefeated fighter Ray Mercer, the WBO title holder in a Pay Per View card held on October 18, 1991. Morrison suffered the first loss of his career, losing by 5th round knockout. Morrison had six wins in 1992, including fights with Art Tucker and Joe Hipp, who would later become the first Native American to challenge for the world heavyweight title. In the Hipp fight, held June 19, 1992, Morrison was suffering from what was later discovered to be a broken hand and broken jaw, but rallied to score a knockout in the ninth round. After two wins in 1993, including one over two-time world title challenger Carl "The Truth" Williams, Morrison found himself fighting for the WBO title again, against heavyweight boxing legend George Foreman, who was himself making a comeback. As both men were famed for their punching power, an exciting battle was expected, but Morrison chose to avoid brawling with Foreman and spent the fight boxing from long range. Morrison was able to hit and move effectively in this manner, and after a closely contested bout he won a unanimous 12-round decision and the WBO title.
Morrison's first title defense was scheduled against Mike Williams, but when Williams withdrew on the night of the fight, Tim Tomashek stood in as a replacement. Although Tomashek had been prepared to fight as a backup plan, some news reports created the impression that he had just been pulled out of the crowd. The WBO later rescinded their sanctioning of this fight due to Tomashek's lack of experience. Almost immediately, talks of a fight with WBC champion Lennox Lewis began, but were halted when virtually unknown Michael Bentt upset Morrison in his next bout. Bentt knocked Morrison down three times, and the fight was stopped in the first round in front of a live HBO Boxing audience. Morrison recovered by winning three bouts in a row in 1994, but his last fight of the year, against Ross Puritty, ended with a draw.
Morrison won three fights in 1995 before meeting former #1 contender Razor Ruddock. Ruddock dropped Morrison to his knees in the first round, but Morrison recovered to force a standing count in round two and compete on even terms for five rounds. In the sixth round, Ruddock hurt Morrison with a quick combination, but just as it seemed Morrison was in trouble, he countered with a tremendous hook that put Ruddock on the canvas. Ruddock regained his feet, but Morrison drove him to the ropes and showered him with an extended flurry of blows. Just as the bell was about to sound, the referee stepped in and declared Morrison the winner by TKO.
The much-anticipated fight with Lewis, who had also lost his world championship, finally took place following the Ruddock match. Morrison was knocked out in the sixth round."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlEW1wpStAM
Images:
1. Tommy Morrison (right) in fight with George Foreman
2. Tommy Morrison and his first wife Dawn Freeman mother of Tristan Morrison
3. Tommy Morrison, who beat the great George Foreman in 1993, never believed he had HIV
4. Dawn Gilbert Morrison [2nd wife] and Tommy Morrison with Tristan Morrison and Dawn's son Kyson
Biographies:
1. okhistory.org
2. http://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/1305818/tommy-morrison-drugs-denial-and-finally-death
1. Background from {[ https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=MO034]}
MORRISON, TOMMY DAVID (1969–2013) written by Jon D. May.
Possessing knockout power and a weak chin, Tommy "The Duke" Morrison brought excitement to boxing's heavyweight division during the 1990s. ("The Duke" nickname derived from Morrison's unsubstantiated claim he was the grandnephew of Hollywood movie legend John Wayne.) Born in Gravette, Arkansas, on January 2, 1969, Morrison was raised in Jay, Oklahoma, where he began boxing at age ten. Participating in Golden Gloves competitions, he culminated his amateur career at the 1988 U.S. Olympic Trials. There Morrison dropped a split decision to Ray Mercer, who subsequently won the gold medal in the heavyweight division at the Seoul Summer Olympics.
Making his professional debut in October 1988, Morrison won his first twenty-eight bouts, including twenty-three by knockout. In 1990 he landed a role in the movie Rocky V, portraying the character Tommy "The Machine" Gunn opposite Sylvester Stallone's Rocky Balboa. Returning to the ring, Morrison suffered his first defeat when he met Ray Mercer for the vacant World Boxing Organization (WBO) heavyweight championship. The former amateur rivals squared off on October 18, 1991, in Atlantic City, New Jersey, with Mercer winning via fifth-round knockout.
Morrison rebounded from the loss with eight consecutive knockout wins. The six-foot-two, two-hundred-fifteen-pound fighter was a fan favorite and a staple of cable and network boxing telecasts. Against top competition Morrison fought through injuries and was often knocked to the canvas. On more than one occasion he rallied from near defeat to score a knockout victory with his trademark left hook.
Morrison received a second chance at the WBO heavyweight championship when he faced former and future world heavyweight champion George Foreman in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 6, 1993. Wary of Foreman's legendary punching power, Morrison boxed smartly and won by unanimous decision. His title reign was brief, however, as on October 29, 1993, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he lost in his second title defense to unheralded challenger Michael Bennt by first round knockout.
Over his next eight fights Morrison registered seven wins and a draw. Included was a stoppage victory over Donovan "Razor" Ruddick to win the International Boxing Council heavyweight title and a knockout lose to two-time world champion Lennox Lewis. In 1996 Morrison was suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission after a blood test indicated he had HIV. Morrison announced his retirement, but subsequent negative medical tests caused him to deny his illness. Granted a boxing license in West Virginia, Morrison had two bouts before retiring in 2008 with a final record of 48 wins, 3 loses, and 1 draw with 42 wins by knockout.
In the 1990s Morrison was plagued by health, personal, and legal issues. As early as 1993 he faced charges of assault and public intoxication. During the mid-1990s he was arrested multiple times for various offenses, and in January 2000 he received a two-year prison sentence at the Southwest Arkansas Community Correction Center in Texarkana.
Morrison's health steadily declined following his parole in 2001. Bedridden the final year of his life, Tommy Morrison died on September 1, 2013, in Omaha, Nebraska, from AIDS complications and was buried in Butler Creek Cemetery at Sulphur Springs, Arkansas. His sons, Trey Lippe Morrison and Kenzie Witt, are professional boxers.
Bibliography
Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City), 30 July 2000, 3 September 2013.
"Tommy Morrison," Vertical File, Research Division, Oklahoma Historical Society, Oklahoma City."
2. Background from {[ https://www.scmp.com/sport/other-sport/article/1305818/tommy-morrison-drugs-denial-and-finally-death]}
The tragic tale of Tommy Morrison: Drugs, denial and finally death
The talented heavyweight had the world at his feet before his recklessness ended it all
Tommy Morrison was just a few hours away from a comeback bout that was supposed to lead him to Mike Tyson when he got the news inside the crowded casino at the MGM Grand hotel.
Chances are he already knew what was coming. A few days earlier he had refused to take a blood test mandated by Nevada boxing authorities, citing religious objections. He took it only after being told that without it he would not fight.
Morrison had tested positive for the HIV virus. Instead of fighting for the heavyweight title, he would now be in for the fight of his life.
‘As a white fighter, you get twice as much criticism. You have more to prove than black or Hispanic fighters’ Tommy Morrison
It seemed impossible. The blond Adonis who had beaten the fearsome George Foreman for the heavyweight title and starred with Sylvester Stallone in Rocky V was too fit, too strong, to carry the dreaded virus. Magic Johnson testing positive a few years earlier was shocking enough, but now a heavyweight contender with HIV, too?
Morrison quickly got on a plane back to his native Oklahoma. The fights that night went on without him, and the crowd booed when told he wasn't fighting for undisclosed medical reasons.
Morrison would end up living another 17 years before he died last Sunday in a Nebraska hospital at the age of 44. But life as he knew it was over. There would be no Tyson fight. No more multimillion-dollar paydays. No more movies with Stallone.
"This is not a death sentence, by any means," he insisted a few months later.
But for the troubled Morrison, it was. He spent much of the remainder of his life in a fog of drugs and denial. Occasionally he would resurface, like he did in 2007 when he tried to resurrect his boxing career at the age of 38 in a fight for a few hundred dollars at a racetrack in West Virginia.
He had once blamed his HIV diagnosis on a fast and reckless lifestyle. Now he made an even more outlandish claim - that he never had the virus.
"The bottom line is we passed every test on the market, even one they don't have on the market," Morrison told me a few days before the fight in West Virginia. "That tells me it was never there."
Drugs and denial. They combined to kill Morrison just as surely as the HIV he claimed he never had.
A few weeks ago, his mother told an
ESPN.com
writer that Morrison still believed he never had the virus. But she said he had Aids and she was hoping that he would die peacefully.
He had long since blown through the estimated US$16 million he made in the ring, long since given up on the idea of fighting again. Life wasn't a Rocky movie, and there would be no miracle saving him at the end.
Twenty years earlier, his future seemed to have no limit. With flowing blond hair, a chiselled body and a powerful left hook, he was a star in the heavyweight division, carefully guided by promoter Bob Arum into a title fight with Foreman.
"If I don't win," Morrison said, "people will throw me in the heap with Duane Bobick, Jerry Quarry and Gerry Cooney. As a white fighter, you get twice as much criticism. You have more to prove than black or Hispanic fighters."
But on June 7, 1993, he did win, outboxing Foreman with a smart and disciplined game plan that took Foreman's vaunted power away. Boxing had a fresh young star, and he was welcomed back to his hometown of Jay, Oklahoma, with a huge sign near the country store proclaiming the town the birthplace of the heavyweight champ.
But "The Duke" - he claimed a distant kinship with John Wayne - would get knocked out in the first a few months later by Michael Bentt in a homecoming bout in Tulsa. He took a bloody beating from Lennox Lewis two years later, but signed with Don King and was being groomed for a fight with Tyson when he was given a tune-up fight against journeyman Art Weathers in February 1996.
Nevada was one of the few states testing for HIV at the time, and Morrison was sent to a doctor for a pre-fight physical and blood test. State boxing officials weren't sure why he didn't want his blood taken, only that he would not be allowed to fight unless it was.
The positive test stunned boxing, a sport that was especially vulnerable to HIV transmission because of close proximity of fighters to each other and the very real possibility of cuts and blood mixing.
‘The bottom line is we passed every test on the market, even one they don't have on the market. That tells me it was never there’ Tommy Morrison
Mills Lane, who refereed Morrison's bloody fight with Lewis a few months earlier, got himself tested the day after Morrison's result was announced to make sure he hadn't got the virus from Morrison's blood.
NBA great Johnson called Morrison a few days later, urging him to stay upbeat and fight the disease. Johnson said Morrison was listening, but he wasn't sure he had heard.
The folks in Jay, meanwhile, took the big sign down. Morrison didn't blame them, saying most people thought HIV was "a loser's virus".
His hometown had deserted him. His career was over.
The long downward spiral had begun."
FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC (Join to see) Lt Col John (Jack) Christensen LTC Greg Henning MAJ Dale E. Wilson, Ph.D. Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj Marty Hogan SMSgt Lawrence McCarter GySgt Thomas Vick MSgt Robert "Rock" Aldi SFC (Join to see) SPC Margaret Higgins Cynthia Croft Cynthia Croft SPC Nancy Greene SGT Denny Espinosa PO2 (Join to see) PO1 William "Chip" Nagel SPC Woody Bullard
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LTC Stephen F.
The UNTOLD Truth Behind The Death Of Tommy Morrison
In this video we take a look into the Truth behind the death of Tommy Morrison also known as Tommy "the gun" in Rocky 5. Showing highlights of his legendary ...
The UNTOLD Truth Behind The Death Of Tommy Morrison
In this video we take a look into the Truth behind the death of Tommy Morrison also known as Tommy "the gun" in Rocky 5. Showing highlights of his legendary fights and knockouts and battles Ray Mercer, George Foreman and other opponents.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWCCw2x5i-Y
Images
1. Tommy Morrison World Boxing Organization champion in 1993
2. Tommy Morrison in Rocky V with Sylvester Stallone
3. Kenzie Morrison - Heavy Weight boxer
4. Triston Duke Morrison
FYi CWO3 (Join to see) 1144366:SGT Jim Arnold] SSgt Terry P. Maj Robert ThorntonMSG (Join to see)LTC Greg Henning SGT Gregory Lawritson SGT John " Mac " McConnellSSG Robert Mark Odom~1343414:SSG Franklin Briant] SSG Chad Henning ~1607509:SPC Matthew Lamb]Sgt Kelli Mays Lt Col Charlie Brown Capt Rich Buckley CWO3 Dennis M. SFC William Farrell SGT (Join to see)PO3 Bob McCord SPC Douglas Bolton
In this video we take a look into the Truth behind the death of Tommy Morrison also known as Tommy "the gun" in Rocky 5. Showing highlights of his legendary fights and knockouts and battles Ray Mercer, George Foreman and other opponents.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWCCw2x5i-Y
Images
1. Tommy Morrison World Boxing Organization champion in 1993
2. Tommy Morrison in Rocky V with Sylvester Stallone
3. Kenzie Morrison - Heavy Weight boxer
4. Triston Duke Morrison
FYi CWO3 (Join to see) 1144366:SGT Jim Arnold] SSgt Terry P. Maj Robert ThorntonMSG (Join to see)LTC Greg Henning SGT Gregory Lawritson SGT John " Mac " McConnellSSG Robert Mark Odom~1343414:SSG Franklin Briant] SSG Chad Henning ~1607509:SPC Matthew Lamb]Sgt Kelli Mays Lt Col Charlie Brown Capt Rich Buckley CWO3 Dennis M. SFC William Farrell SGT (Join to see)PO3 Bob McCord SPC Douglas Bolton
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SPC Margaret Higgins
LTC Greg Henning - Our Beloved friend Greg: Sending Much Love; and, Many Hugs to Thee!
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