Nevada Official Says Tommy Morrison Is Still HIV Positive

With his comeback stalled amid allegations that he recently tested positive for HIV, heavyweight Tommy Morrison maintains he's free of the virus and plans to go before the Nevada State Athletic Commission to clarify his medical status and resume his boxing career.
“I'm getting tired of having to answer all these questions and people casting doubts,” Morrison told USA TODAY on Thursday. “I've got a fight scheduled for July 27 in Albuquerque, but they want me to get this over with first. In the next week to 10 days, I'm going to Nevada, and I'll test again … to clear this up.”

In 1996, Morrison was denied a license and placed on indefinite suspension by the Nevada board after testing HIV positive before a fight in Las Vegas.

After 10 years away from the ring, Morrison, 38, was allowed to fight Feb. 22 in West Virginia, a state that doesn't require blood testing. But he recently ran into a roadblock again when the Arizona Republic reported in the June 8 edition that Morrison recently tested positive for HIV.

Former associate Randy Lang told the newspaper that he stopped working for Morrison after results of Morrison's HIV tests were publicly misrepresented.

Nevada officials are adamant that Morrison's positive HIV test results in 1996 are accurate and that he has the virus.

“I hope he's HIV negative, I really do, but it doesn't seem likely,” said Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada commission. “We'll wait and see what happens. He said he's been tested several times in recent years, but (we'll ask) what happened from 1996 and 2002, the years he won't talk about.”

Margaret Goodman, chair of the Nevada commission's medical advisory board, was prompted to check on Morrison's status after learning about his comeback. She said she contacted John Hiatt at the diagnostics clinic where Morrison was tested in 1996.

“At my request, Dr. Hiatt reviewed the archived results yet again,” Goodman said. “He says they (the positive results) are ironclad and unequivocal.”

Morrison contends that he's been trying to get a copy of the original test results for the past 15 months.

“We've asked, but they can't come up with it,” he said. “I don't think it ever existed.”