Morrison Fight ‘No Big Deal’

For those who have their doubts about the wisdom of heavyweight boxer Tommy Morrison’s stepping back into the ring, even though he is HIV-positive, Morrison has some advice.

“If people feel that way, they should sit in the fourth row,” said Morrison, who signed Thursday to fight Anthony Cooks Nov. 3 in Tokyo. “Once people see what happens, they will realize it is no big deal.”

It is a big deal, however, to the world’s most famous HIV-positive athlete, Magic Johnson. Johnson, the retired Laker superstar, said last week before the official announcement of Morrison’s return that he wouldn’t support the fighter by attending the match.

“After talking to the doctors, which is where I get my information from, I feel that he shouldn’t be doing it because it’s a blood sport,” Johnson said. “If something were to happen, it would set the fight [against HIV and AIDS] back five to 10 years.

“All the good work we’ve done for the last five years--I’m talking about educating people and tearing down some of those barriers of discrimination and getting TV time to get our message across--that could all be lost.

“The fight has been going good. Maybe not as good as we want, but still pretty good. Now, if something happens, oh boy, the fear just jumps right back up again.”

Coincidentally, Johnson may be in Japan the day of the fight because of his basketball tour. If so, he won’t be attending the fight, he said.

“I can’t see myself going to something I don’t support,” Johnson said. “He understands that it’s a blood sport. He’s got to. Somebody has got to have already told him this is a bad move. This guy bleeds more than anyone in the sport. . . . How many times have we seen people butt heads and both guys come out of there with blood gushing everywhere?

“Basketball was different from boxing. If they would have told me, ‘Earvin, there’s a chance somebody could get HIV from you,’ then I would have never come back. I couldn’t do it to the sport or myself. But when they told me, ‘There’s no chance. It’s never happened. Don’t worry about it,’ then I went out there and did my thing.

“Now, just because I don’t support his decision to come back doesn’t mean that I don’t support Tommy Morrison. We are talking about two different things because I support him totally.”

There is a stipulation in the contract for the Morrison fight that it will be stopped if Morrison bleeds. The fighter ahead on the judges’ cards at the time will then be declared the winner.

But Morrison clarified that clause Thursday, saying it would take more than just a simple cut to halt the match.

“If I suffer an uncontrollable cut, that will be the end of the fight,” he said. “It has to be a very bad cut.”

Of course, “a very bad, uncontrollable cut” would cause almost any fight to be stopped.

Tommy Virgets, Morrison’s trainer, will also serve as his cut man against Cooks. Virgets says he’s so unconcerned about the risk of infection that he won’t even wear gloves unless he is forced to do so by Japanese officials.

“It would take a significant amount of blood in an open wound and it would have to be there for a long amount of time,” Virgets said about his own chances of contracting the disease. “I won’t wear gloves unless it is a necessity. It’s harder to work with them. I’m going to be in there cleaning up the cut and getting ready for the next round.”

The Morrison-Cooks match will be on the undercard of a main event between two-time heavyweight champion George Foreman and Crawford Grimsley. Cooks (11-5) was not available for comment.

Morrison says he wouldn’t be fighting if it weren’t for a good cause. He may make up to $500,000 but has pledged to donate most of it to his Knockout AIDS Foundation, an organization formed to help underprivileged children with HIV and AIDS to both get treatment and avoid discrimination from their peers.

“I will be getting the least amount I have fought for in the last four years,” Morrison said. “The main reason I am doing this is for the foundation. . . . This is not a sideshow. I’m not there to fool around. This raises money for one of the most positive things on the planet--kids.”

Morrison learned last Feb. 10 in Las Vegas that he had a problem. At 27, with a 45-3-1 record and 39 knockouts, a promotional deal with Don King and the prospect of fighting Mike Tyson looming, Morrison seemed to be headed toward the peak of his ring career. But hours before his scheduled fight against Arthur Weathers, he was told that a routine blood test administered under the rules of the Nevada State Athletic Commission showed Morrison to be HIV-positive.

That fight was canceled and, less than a week later at a news conference in his home state of Oklahoma, Morrison, in announcing his retirement, said, “I certainly believe that it is possible to pick [HIV] up fighting. I’ve had thousands of sparring partners over the years, 49 fights, and I led a promiscuous lifestyle.”

Looking back, Morrison now says, “When I first made the announcement, I was as uneducated as everybody else. I believed it could actually be passed in the ring. Now I am very aware of how hard it is to pass it along.”

Still, Dr. Jeffrey Laurence, director of the AIDS laboratory at New York Hospital, doesn’t think the Morrison fight is a good idea.

“I would be surprised if it goes forward,” Laurence said. “The Japanese are very aware of this disease and I know how they react. Even in their sumo wrestling, if any blood is shed, they stop and sprinkle salt around to purify everything.

“The likelihood of getting infected is still very small. There is more chance of a person being hit by lightning than getting infected. But it could happen if the blood of an infected person got into the blood of the other person’s open wound. People have also been infected by blood splashing into their eyes.

“This is a risk we don’t need to take.”