Tommy Morrision MMA Training Picture

Is he HIV+, is he HIV-... whatever and who cares except for the dude fighting him I suppose.

I wasn't going to give Tommy Morrision the time of day except that I stumbled upon this picture and I had to add this picture that just wreaks of wrongness when it is also so damn right and funny as hell! (It really isn't Tommy in training for those who lack a sense of humour).

Tommy "Gunn", who was the nemesis to Rocky Balboa in Rocky V is set to begin his MMA career today with his first fight against a pure no-name slob. Tommy is clearly riding the coattails of the rise in popularity of mixed martial arts and he's looking to capitalize and cash in by turning his MMA debut into a freak show.

I hope to have the Morrison vs. Stover video for you tomorrow.

From Tommy Morrision's Wiki page

MMA Career

Tommy Morrison will make his MMA debut when he steps into the cage to face 340-pound mixed martial artist John Stover. The bout is scheduled to take place as part of the June 9 event at Cliff Castle Casino in Arizona presented by Worldwide Fighting Championship. Some controversy has grown around the event as it is not being overseen by the Arizona State Athletic Commission and no blood tests (specifically for HIV) have been done.

HIV Testing and Retirement

A few days before his next fight, to be shown on Showtime, Morrison had a mandatory HIV test performed by the Nevada Athletic Commission. It was revealed during Showtime's telecast of the boxing undercard that Morrison's HIV test proved positive, automatically retiring him from boxing as a competitor.

Later in 1996, Morrison announced that he wished to make a comeback with one more bout, the proceeds of which would benefit his newly created KnockOut Aids Foundation. Morrison won the non-sanctioned fight in a first-round knockout of Marcus Rhode in Tokyo. Morrison finished his boxing career with a record of 47 wins, 3 losses, and 1 draw, with 41 of his wins by knockout.

After his retirement, Morrison spent 14 months in prison on drug and weapons charges, and he would later also plead guilty to drunk driving.

Testing Negative for HIV

His return to prizefighting came after several years of his belief that he was given a false-positive HIV exam in Las Vegas. Since December 2006, Morrison claimed that he had tested negative for HIV on four occasions.The head of the Arizona State Boxing Commission personally watched Morrison take a blood test at a lab in Phoenix, and received the official results demonstrating that Morrison was HIV negative.

As a result of his negative test in Phoenix, Morrison was licensed Tuesday February 20, 2007 by the West Virginia Athletic Commission and faced John Castle of Indianapolis in a four-round bout Thursday night February 22, 2007 at Mountaineer Race Track in Chester. Castle (4-2, 2 KOs) had been knocked out in his last two fights. After landing few punches, and being scored behind at the end of the first round, Morrison swooped in with his trademark left hook to knock out Castle in the middle of Round 2.