False Positive

The following is a sample from my novel "And Stay Down! Boxing's Worst Comebacks." Available via Amazon.



"On the morning of February 9, 1996, former WBO champion Tommy Morrison was supposed to fight journeyman Arthur Weathers in what would have been the first fight on the road to a multi-million dollar clash with Mike Tyson. Just hours before he stepped into the ring, the Nevada State Athletic Commission immediately placed a suspension on Morrison due to an irregularity they discovered with his blood.

"The Duke" didn't test positive for any drugs or performance enhancers. He instead heard something far worse: Tommy Morrison was told that he was HIV positive. It had seemed his career was all but over and he would spend his remaining years coming to terms with his disease; but nothing is that simple in the sport of boxing.

In an attempt to challenge the system and continue his career against all odds, Tommy Morrison embarked on one of the most controversial and dangerous comebacks ever attempted in the history of the sport.

Starting from the very beginning, Morrison always had the rebel mindset. At 13 years of age, Morrison forged documents so he could fight in Toughman competitions when the legal age was 21. His passion for fighting transitioned to boxing where he would win the Kansas City Golden Gloves at heavyweight and turned pro in 1988.

Morrison was a hideously strong puncher with one of the best left hooks of the past 20 years and always came to fight. When Morrison would win, he'd win early and in devastating fashion making him a fighter to watch. He got a huge popularity boost when he was approached by Sylvester Stallone to star as the antagonist in "Rocky V," where he starred as Tommy Gunn, protégé and later foe to Stallone's character.

As he continued his climb towards the top of the heavyweight mountain, his desire to fight and knock his opponents out uncovered a severe hindrance when he began fighting better opponents. Morrison had a faulty chin and if he couldn't knock his opponent out, chances are he'd get knocked out himself.

Against Ray Mercer for the WBO title, Morrison boxed cautiously against the very strong Mercer easily winning the first couple of rounds but looked tense while doing so. Morrison, who had never gone more than six rounds in a fight, would get hurt by a counter right hand at the end of the third and it was all downhill from there. Mercer would punish the fading Morrison in the fourth to set up one of the vicious knockouts ever seen in the fifth.

Not letting the loss to Mercer deter him, Morrison pushed on and continued to grow a following with his grit and toughness. Against Joe Hipp, Morrison allegedly broke both of his hands and his jaw in the fight but managed to stop Hipp in the ninth. He would be dropped twice against former heavyweight challenge Carl Williams only to recover from the knockdowns to stop him in the eighth round.

1993 would be his finest hour when Morrison would once against challenge for a heavyweight title, this time against the legendary George Foreman. Many were expecting Foreman, 44 at this point, to become the oldest heavyweight champion in history, but Morrison would deny Foreman his glory in what was the definitive performance of his career.

Minimizing any kind of exchanges with the all-time great puncher and out boxed the hard charging Foreman to win by decision. Winning the title against Foreman put him in a position for financially lucrative bouts with Lennox Lewis and Riddick Bowe, who were watching at ringside.

Hoping to capitalize on his title win and his popularity while biding his time for Bowe and Lewis, Morrison's first defense was scheduled against "Rocky" co-star Mike Williams in a fight that was billed as "The Real Gunn vs. Cane Fight." In a shocking turn of events, Williams walked out on the fight with only an hour to go leaving Morrison without an opponent and a televised boxing card without a main event.

This disaster was saved by promoter Top Rank being able to spot local journeyman fighter Tim Tomahawk at ringside and asked if he'd like a shot for the heavyweight title. Tomashek, who was more or less three beers down watching the card, accepted and challenged Morrison with borrowed trunks and gloves! There would be no Hail Mary punch that'd knock the chinny champ out; Tomashek would be picked apart in four rounds, but not before he gave Morrison the only noogie ever seen in boxing history.

Morrison's train would derail in his next fight against 11-1 Michael Bentt, who knocked him out in 97 seconds to end his only title reign. Though Morrison would still be on the bubble for big things in the division, he ultimately couldn't replicate his earlier success and was written off as a top contender following a one-sided knockout loss to Lewis in 1996. Despite his fading status, Morrison was on the verge of a major payday against Mike Tyson before he was given the news that he was HIV positive.

Even with being banned in the United States due to his condition, he would fight one more time in Japan with heavily modified rules stating that a cut on either fighter would immediately halt the bout and go to the scorecards. Morrison won that fight against journeyman Marcus Rhodes in one round and it would be the last time anybody ever thought they'd see him again.

Initially, Morrison blamed his reckless lifestyle and sexual promiscuity for contracting the disease but he eventually surmised that his drug use caused his condition. His trouble with drugs was well documented, including a DUI stop in 1999 that landed him in prison for two years. After being stopped by a patrol car, a search of his vehicle discovered drugs and firearms and he was convicted by a grand jury shortly thereafter.

When 2003 came around, Morrison somehow drew up a theory that his sudden contraction of HIV was part of a grand conspiracy against him and doubted very much that he had the virus. This would be one of many crazy statements uttered by the former champion, including giving Kansas City Star reporter Sam Mellinger a first hand account of his ability to spontaneously teleport! What took the cake was Morrison allegedly buying a plot of land and hiding in a cave anticipating the apocalypse on January 1, 2000.

While the consensus opinion of Morrison was that he was truly delusional, he and his lawyers flaunted the term “false positive” to the point where it probably should have been his new ring name. To add more fuel to this very confusing fire, Morrison tested in front of the Arizona commission in a public test and no traces of HIV could be found. At this point, it was only expected that he was going to take his chances in the ring and his comeback was imminent."


Read the rest of the tragic story of Tommy Morrison as well as boxing's other awful comeback attempts in "And Stay Down! Boxing's Worst Comebacks."