Tommy Morrison (Date Unknown
MORRISON SAID TO BY DYING IN ARKANSAS
San Francisco, CA– Last week I posted this reportedly recent picture of Tommy Morrison, former WBO heavyweight (+ $200 lb.) champion Tommy Morrison. Having dealt with being HIV Positive for some 17 years, that alone is an incredible feat, not only from a physical level, but an emotional one as well. Only 44 years young, Morrison’s condition has ravaged his body. But should Morrison’s death be imminent as his mother reports, I want to say that anyway you look at it, be it right or wrong, Tommy Morrison did things his way, to which I’ll explain later.
THE HIV THING COST HIM ZILLIONS
His being infected with HIV, something he could have gotten through dirty needles from Steroid use, yeah Roids, tatoos, or sex is not really important, rather that this kid from Gravette, Arkansas, watched as his storybook like life turned into what amounts to a real life documentary of horror-like proportions. Morrison’s playing Tommy Gunn in Sylvester Stalone’s Rocky 5 flick, a role first offered to my Golden Gloves teammate Terry Davis, (that’s a story or movie in itself) was not something that evoked the second coming of John Wayne, born Marion Morrison, who turns out to be a distant cousin to Tommy “The Duke” Morrison.
John Wayne AKA Marion Morrison
UNBEATEN IN BOXING, MMA, MUAY THAI KICKBOXING SINCE ’96 BAN
But it gave him almost unparalleled worldwide exposure that you couldn’t purchase if you wanted to. And while no Academy Award nominations were bestowed upon Tommy, here was this young and quite good looking man who was a “Suicide Blond,” meaning his hair was “dyed by his own hands,” who could have done things in the media, commercials, endorsements, Tommy Morrison was going places until that dreadful February 10, 1996 evening when the Nevada Commission acknowledged Morrison was HIV Positive. Banned from that point forward, Morrison fought in Japan HIV+, West Virginia and Mexico, the last being in 2008. He is also 1-0 in MMA & 1-0 in Muay Thai kickboxing.
MOM SAYS TOMMY NEAR DEATH WHILE WIFE IN SEMI-DENIAL
While reading something put together by ESPN.com, it seems Tommy’s mother Diana Morrison says she’s just waiting for a call confirming what she says is Morrison’s imminent death. The manner in which Mrs. Morrison described her son, bedridden for months, alive via ventilator, this deviates greatly from the story being put forth by Trisha Morrison, Tommy’s wife who told ProBoxing-Fans.com that he is in failing health because of Miller Fisher Syndrome/Guillain Barre Syndrome, which the website says is “a very rare nervous disease that causes abnormal muscle coordination, paralysis of the eye muscles, absence of the tendon reflexes, muscle weakness and respiratory failure.” In other words he has ARC.
Morrison Chest Wound Courtesy ProBoxing-Fans.com
MORRISON RESFUSING HIV MEDS “DID IT HIS WAY”
Having recently worked in a building with an agency that feeds HIV patients, I can tell you that the survival rate from
Sly & Tommy In Better Times
AIDs and or ARC, short for “Aids Related Conditions” can exceed 25 years. Morrison denied the HIV status and never took ANY HIV medications. Going back to the ESPN story, Diana Morrison says, “He’s been in denial ever since he’s had it (HIV).” That’s too bad, because had Morrison allowed himself to take this current generation of AIDs drugs, then his mother wouldn’t be waiting on that phone call that she says is coming much sooner rather than later.
Pedro Fernandez