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Tommy Morrison: Wants Mike Tyson and is HIV Free
 INTERVIEW BY Mike Casile, PBR (July 18, 2006)
This interview conducted by Mike Casile.
Tommy Morrison was one of the biggest punchers in the heavyweight division a decade ago, before he was forced into retirement when he tested positive with HIV.
We discussed his career, from the tough man circuit, his journey to the heavyweight Championship, and returning to the ring for a comeback.
PBR:
Tommy, what initially brought you to the game of boxing?
TM:
The last five generations, on my dad’s side of the family, have always been fighters, and all the women have always been
nurses.
PBR:
I guess that worked out pretty well then?
TM:
I guess it did (chuckle)
PBR:
I remember your debut fight at the felt forum in New York. I remember thinking how brutally you dispensed of your opponent.
TM:
Really, that’s the only fight I have never seen
PBR:
That’s ok; neither did the guy you were fighting.
TM:
(Laughter), I suppose he didn’t
PBR:
Because of matches that ended like that, you began to get a ton of Television, even Motion Picture exposure, how much did that contribute to your early success?
TM:
Well, the Rocky “thing” didn’t hurt, I can tell you that, but nobody likes to go see a boxing match. Boxing matches are boring. People would say to me, “oh you’re a boxer?” I would say, no I’m not a boxer, I’m a fighter, and there is a big difference. People like to see exciting fights, that’s what puts the butt’s in seats, and that is what gets exposure.
PBR:
How do you feel about term, “The Great White Hope” that was very much attached to you during a time when the heavyweight division was dominated primarily by African Americans?
TM:
That is something that the media created, that was not my deal. The media can sometimes create their own animal, and do what they want. I was just trying to roll with the punches. I do not think, in the past, the media treated me very fairly. I was just a country boy, who liked to out and have a few bears after a fight, and they would make it into a big deal sometimes.
PBR:
Seemed pretty timid, compared to what other fighters were doing at that time.
TM:
That’s the way I felt Mike.
I was never trying to hide anything, I just laid it out there, but that is not my life anymore. All the things that used to be such a priority then don’t mean too much to me. Priorities change, you have children, and you just do different things.
PBR:
Moving forward to 1993, you had beaten some pretty impressive opponents, like, Razor Ruddock, and George Foreman and were the WBO heavyweight champion of the world. Then you lost in an embarrassing style to Michael Bentt. Do you think that hurt your credibility?
TM:
Well, it didn’t help. That fight right there was one of those things. If I fought Michael Bentt a hundred more times, I would beat him, a hundred more times. It was a fluke. If you stick around the heavyweight division long enough, it will happen to anybody, and it has. Why it was such a big deal when it happened to me, I never understood that. Maybe it was because I was “white” and they hung their hat on me doing well. I don’t know.
PBR:
Do you think fans looked past your color and noticed your power that was reminiscing of Mike Tyson, because of the Vacuum that was the Heavyweight diviosn then?
TM:
The division goes through this every 10 to 12 years, and is in exactly the same position it was in 1985 when Tyson came along. He started mowing through everybody, and everybody said, this guy is superman, but he was just a regular fighter. He has a few kinks in his armor, and people are lining up now to fight him, I’m trying to get him to fight me. He live right down the rode in Scottsdale, I ve got his number, spoke to him a few times, but he is a hard guy to locate, I don’t know what the deal is.
PBR:
One of things I always wrote about you was that you had the punchers curse. You seemed to rely heavily on your power, but failed to develop the necessary skills to move to the next level. Do you agree?
TM:
I agree with you to a point, but one thing you need to understand was that, people never seen my best. I was just starting to get it all together, and then I had to quit. I came from the tough man circuit, I had a lot of catching up to do, and I had a lot of experience to gain. I didn’t have a lot of international bouts, which is mid to low level fights really. I was real active, I had about 19 fights in 1989 on ESPN, that’s an extraordinary amount of fights for a heavyweight, I was a tough man fighter, I had catching up to do. I preferred to stay active. I needed to pick things up, but to be truthful, people never seen me at my best. I’m looking forward to bouncing in there, taking my test and passing it, and making some waves in the heavyweight division. I always knew I was destined for greatness, I one titles, I beat Foreman, and Ruddock, and it wasn’t a big deal to me. I knew I could do it. Shortly after that, it became a very dark world for me. I didn’t realize how stupid and uneducated some people could be.
PBR:
You knocked out Razor Ruddock, and beat Foreman, and it didn’t mean anything to you?
They were two tremendous punchers.
TM:
Well, not to me. I was losing my passion for boxing. Not the fighting part, but the politics of it. I had some bad people around me, not all of them, but I didn’t get along with John Brown very well, it was a negative situation, it was very hard to keep my head above water. It is hard to concentrate on training and keeping everything in line, when you have to worry about everybody stealing from you.
PBR: I can understand, at lower levels, for guys just starting out, having to deal with certain politics in boxing. But even with you, an established fighter and Champion at that time
TM:
It’s the same, at any level.
PBR:
And you’re ready to return to it?
TM:
I think the timing of this whole thing is perfect. What was supposed to happen ten years ago just got postponed for ten years? It makes for a greater story. If I could come back and win a few titles, it would be one of the greatest comebacks in the history of boxing.
PBR:
Do you think guys will be afraid to fight you?
TM:
Part of them will be afraid because of the “power” factor, and part of them will, “the chicken Sh*ts” out there will not want to fight me, because of ….whatever. But I hope that isn’t going to happen. They don’t have anything to worry about.
PBR:
Tom, your saying, they don’t have anything to worry about, you have said on the record that you are NOT HIV positive right now, and you think the test you got ten years ago was a false positive. Explain to me why you feel that.
TM:
There are several different types of dietary supplements that were on the market back then, that I was taking, and there were a couple of other different things I was taking that would cause a false positive, with the test they were administering back then. They test that they give you doesn’t pick up the virus itself, it only picks up the anti-bodies. So if your exposed to something, and your body is built up to protest yourself the way it is supposed to, your still going to test positive. It has been undetectable in my blood for the last 6 or 7 years, and that’s as far as I am going to go with that. People will find out more about that, when we decide to go to Vegas and take care of this thing.
PBR:
Do you think there people, trying to keep you out of it, for other reasons, beside the HIV.
TM:
You know what? There is a part of me that does. There was always a little part of that thought, something was going on there. They tell me I am HIV positive, 45 minutes later; I am on a plane, by myself, flying through Washington, Virginia, just trying to get back to Tulsa. Why they got me out of there so fast, sending me off. By myself, they all stayed there and watched the fights, there was some pretty shady stuff that went on there, there was a protocol that could have been taken, there was an appeal process that didn’t happen, I don’t know why, I mean, Don King had, three fighters that he could monopolize the division, with Tyson, Lewis and Oliver McCall. The only person in his way was me. That crossed my mind
PBR:
So when you say “they” are you speaking of promoters, like Don King?
TM:
I don’t really know, I don’t know how deep it went, how many layers of smut, that were plastered to the side of that event.
I had some questions, about MY own team. If they had something to do with it. I don’t know.
There are a lot of different scenario’s I looked at over the years, and there are some that pretty strong. A lot stronger than the others out there. Time will tell.
PBR:
Are you healthy?
TM:
I’m healthier than I have ever been, nothing has changed in my life, other than , they have prevented me from making a living for the past ten years, and cost me about 40 million dollars.
And that’s a tough pill to swallow. This time, its better, I have redeemed my passion fro the sport, I don’t have to worry about anyone stealing from me. It gives me the opportunity to help a lot of kids. I’m not just fighting for me; I am fighting for every kid that has been discriminated against, because of HIV. It is horrible, what some of these kids go through, like Ryan White for example. It’s ungodly.
PBR:
Well, HIV is something that makes people uncomfortable, it is in the background, and we don’t want to discuss it, because every human being is vulnerable.
TM:
I didn’t have a choice, I just stood up to it, told the world, what was known as that time. How was I to know that they were going to be wrong?
PBR:
What do you think of some of the current champions?
TM:
I don’t even know who they are.
PBR:
Well, what do you think of Hasim Rachman?
TM:
I think he is probably one of the most seasoned, best ones out there right now I think. Half the heavyweight division out there right now, I don’t know, I have never seen them fight. I know there are some eastern European fighters out there with belts, I don’t know. You know that information out there in the boxing world, is only as good as the people that give it to you.
I don’t draw any conclusions, until I see a round or two of any guy fight. I could tell you in the first 30 seconds, if I could beat him. History has shown you that real bog men can’t fight; I think the Klitchco’s would be the two easiest fighters out there to fight.
PBR: Really? I know they have looked suspect in some fights.
TM: They are straight up, that old European style. History has proven that is doesn’t work. Look at Billy Con, a light heavy weight, 175lbs, beating Bruno Carnero, 6ft 9”, or something. There is a history of that type of fighter. Those European guys hold their head way up high, they are asking for a problem.
PBR:
When do you think your going to get started in your comeback?
TM:
When we know, you will know. I plan on fighting in October, the December, I am going to try and stay as active as I can, and I have a lot of rust to knock off. Yesterday was my official first day in the gym, boxing, and I was in much better shape than I thought. I need little time to get my range, speed and timing back, the power will be there.
PBR:
What state do you think you will be fighting in?
TM:
There are a couple of different states we can fight in, maybe over seas, Canada, Japan.
PBR:
How are promoters taking to this, do you see interest?
TM:
Well, they are all contacting us, with the exception of King and Arum. I wouldn’t want to deal with them anyway.
PBR:
Are you waiting for the right deal? I have talked to some local promoters, asking what they thought of you coming back, and they didn’t seem to know about it.
TM:
Well, it’s been rumored for awhile, something had to go off inside me, in terms of the right deal. Timing is everything. Being at the right place, at the right time, is everything. I don know why everything happened the way it did, but if I had 40 million dollars back when I was 22, I would probably be dead. So god knew what he was doing. It will make for a more fascinating story, I believe.
PBR:
Especially in a dead division
TM:
I am a young 37, I had a lot of injuries, and I fought 8 years with broken hands. They never healed, but I feel great now. It is tough, having needles running through your veins, just to spar. That sh*t gets old.
PBR:
What is the one thing that you want people to know about Tommy Morrison, as he makes his comeback?
TM:
One thing that people will see in me is a big change. I am controlled by a different spirit these days. I was wild, when I was young, I didn’t care a whole lot what people thought. But a lot of that had to do with the unhappiness inside me. A lot of it had to do with having to deal with people in the sport, not only competing with who it was I was fighting against, but having to compete against the very people that were there to protect me. That was a very uncomfortable situation to be in.
PBR:
Thank you for you time, your honesty and your courage.
TM:
Thank you.
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© Copyright / All Rights reserved: Doghouse Boxing 1998-2006
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