NotAIDS! News
January 20, 2007

Boxing star Tommy Morrison, two-time world champion, actor, known to many as The Duke - a reference to his being the great-grand nephew of Marion Morrison, aka John Wayne - has just tested negative for HIV.

Ordinarily, a negative test result wouldn't be a major newsmaker, but for Mr Morrison and his fans, this is big news.

It was a little over 10 years ago in a room at a smoky Las Vegas hotel before a tournament of boxing matches that would have netted him millions. Tommy Morrison, rising boxing star, was taking a Nevada state-mandated HIV test before the match, and his life changed forever. THe test was positive for the erstwhile "human immunodeficiency virus."

For these past 10 years, Tommy Morrison has claimed that the test was bogus, suggested that HIV does not cause AIDS, refused antiretrovirals, fired as a patient by the famed Dr. Ho, and even has proposed that a government-funded debacle perpetuates the great lie of HIV.

Mr Morrison estimates he lost about $100 million in cancelled fights because of what he and many others consider to be a flawed test for an imagined killer virus.

Flawed or not, the HIV test that came back positive one fateful day in Las Vegas ended an illustrious but short career of 46 out of 50 wins, a movie, and two world titles, the WBO belt in 1993, and the IBC title in 1995.

Many may remember his co-starring role Rocky V (1990) as the fighter Tommy Gunn, who dukes it out with Sylvester Stallone's legendary, imaginary Rocky Balboa.

After his HIV diagnosis,Mr. Morrison started the Knockout AIDS Foundation, a charity that helps low-income families who are dealing with AIDS.

Not only did Tommy Morrison lose a lot of money from the fights cancelled because of the positive HIV test 10 years ago, but he lost a lot "friends" - many turned their backs on the boxing star because of the positive HIV test result.

Through the years, many newspaper reporters described Morrison's doubt of the validity of the HIV test and of the HIV/AIDS killer theory itself, as quackery.

Calling Morrison's opinion bizarre, some internet pundidts went so far as to moralize, saying he messed up his life and is paying the consequences. The press often wrote that he had fallen under the spell of a conspiracy fantasyland and that his ideas were inspired by Internet fiction. He was ridiculed as simply being in "denial" for his belief that no killer virus such as HIV afflicted him.

When Mr. Morrison received the HIV diagnosis, he was first seen by Dr. David Ho, creator of the AIDS drug "cocktail" regimen concept that many scientists now question. After eschewing the AZT and other pills that were prescribed for him in favor of good nutrition and a way of life he remembers reading about somewhere called "natural hygeine," good nutrition, exercise, and adequate rest. Not music to Dr. Ho's ears, and unwilling to wander off the track of convention even for a minute, Ho dropped Morrison and would no longer see him as a patient.

Morrison was fine with being fired as a ptient. "All Dr. Ho did was my bloodwork," Morrison said in a 1997 interview with POZ Magazine "And then he tried to give me the damn medication. The top guy in the field doesn't even understand..."

Morrison's wife has read all the same literature as her husband has, and is familiar with arguments on both sides. The couple have frequent unprotected sex, and she remains negative, and they both remain healthy.

Tommmy Morrison feels the decision to avoid ARVs saved his life. He knows of many people who were healthy and started getting sick on the ARVs. He's become a de facto personal advocate for those who opt out of the drug "regimens."

Now, 10 years after he was first diagnosed with HIV, AIDS-drug free, healthy, energetic, and willful in his accidental role as anti-AIDS establishment celebrity endorser, Morrison is causing a commotion again. He has tested negative for HIV.

Peter McKinn, a boxing promoter out of Phoenix said that the latest test is not a fluke: it's the third negative test Mr. Morrison has taken recently. They await a decision by the Arizona Boxing Commission to license him. He had hoped to get into the ring for a boxing tournament held in Phoeinix.

Alas, fate took a different turn and Morrison's comeback is in the holding pen. As the Arizona Republic reported on 15 January 2007, Morrison's doctor won't allow him to fight due to a hand injury sustained in a practice match.

Still, all the buzz in the fighting world is about the comeback of Tommy Morrison. Meanwhile, the fearless fighter is patiently planning his next victory.

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