Boxer Tommy Morrison Reportedly Dies at 44, Cause Remains Shrouded in Mystery
By Robert Brizel, Head Real Combat Media Boxing Correspondent
New York, NY (September 2nd, 2013)– Boxing website 8 Count News and Mixed Martial Arts site MMAdirt.com posted a story by Darren Barcomb on September 2 that boxer Tommy Morrison passed away at 11:50 P.M. on the evening of September 1, 2013, at age 44, after over a year of illness, as reported by his wife Trisha, story posted online at http://www.mmadirt.com/index.php/all-mma-news/45-other-mma-news/549-tommy-the-duke-morrison-passes-away-at-age-44.html and http://8countnews.com/index.php/boxing/boxing-news/979-former-heavyweight-champ-tommy-morrison-has-died.html. Internet encyclopedia service Wikipedia also confirmed the death, though at the time this reporter picked up the Morrison from sports blogs, the major news services were busy covering Labor Weekend stories including the death of British television journalist David Frost, and along with BoxRec had not yet picked up on Morrison’s death nor officially confirmed it. Reporter Johnny Benz confirmed Tommy’s death today on Doghouse Boxing http://www.doghouseboxing.com/Benz/Benz-090213.htm
Wikipedia cites the cause of Tommy Morrison’s death as ‘multiple organ failure’. This reporter posted the report of Tommy Morrison’s death to Wikipedia. Wikipedia provided the declared ‘cause of death’ based on reports from Trisha Morrison to MMA media. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Morrison
Morrison’s wife Trisha maintained a shroud of mystery over Tommy’s health situation for the past two years, making claims along with Tommy which contradicted the 1996 medical tests which confirmed Morrison had tested HIV Positive for the AIDS virus. Tommy had a career record of 48-3-1 with 42 knockouts, and won and lost the WBO World Heavyweight title in 1993, and the IBC World Heavyweight title in 1995. In 1996, Morrison went public in a televised news conference and on Maury Povich declaring his boxing career was over as he had tested HIV Positive. He was allowed to take one more bout, a specially sanctioned bout with Marcus Rhode in Japan, which lasted only one round. A decade later, in 2007, Morrison returned to the boxing and MMA ring, claiming a false positive test, and fought in West Virginia (boxing), Arizona (MMA unsanctioned) and Mexico (boxing) before disappearing again after refusing to submit to American and Canadian authorities requiring a supervised approved HIV test-rather than ‘evidence’ provided by Tommy.
During his professional boxing career, ‘The Duke’ (as Tommy was called) maintained a high profile colorful-and at times controversial-personality. Morrison’s wife declared Morrison’s final illness over the past year and death was due to Miller Fisher Syndrome / Guillain Barre Syndrome and multiple organ failure, and denied Tommy ever tested HIV Positive. There was no medical documentation provided to support her repeated email claims regarding Tommy’s medical status. Morrison tested HIV Positive in a result made public by the Nevada Athletic Commission in 1996 which was never refuted. It could also be Tommy’s fatal illness was caused or made worse by HIV status, or not. Morrison claimed in a 2007 interview with Chuck Johnson of USA Today newspaper his was a false positive HIV test was triggered by steroid use. http://www.boxingscene.com/tommy-morrison-blames-steroids-hiv-result–7969 Morrison had surgically implanted pectorals during his comeback which were later removed.
In an early 2011 interview, apparently one of his last, Morrison, his skin sagging in places, insisted he was in the best shape of his life, discussed the merits of Telekinesis and regrowing limbs, denied the existence of HIV as a conspiracy to control people, his getting robbed of his $38 million dollar contract and boxing career (perhaps a reference to the anticipated Mike Tyson fight in 1996 which never took place), and laughed over his steak and eggs breakfast about having wild unprotected sex with his girlfriend Trisha (later his wife) every day. http://www.boxingsocialist.com/profiles/blogs/tommy-morrison-talks
Tommy Morrison’s mother Diana Morrison went public in an interview the ESPN last week discussing what she stated was her son Tommy’s full blown AIDS status, his pending death while depending on a ventilator and feeding tube, and desire to have her youngest son Tommy buried with the rest of his family in Sulphur Springs, Arkansas. http://espn.go.com/espn/otl/story/_/id/9588582/tommy-morrison-latest-big-fight
Without a current medical report or an official autopsy result, Morrison could be buried within days either in his Arkansas hometown, or somewhere else in the Midwest, without an official confirmation or denial of his true cause of death supported by medical documentation one way or the other. In any case, Morrison could not speak for over a year, and did not reach out to the boxing community for financial assistance during his last days.
It is not known is Trisha Morrison will reach out to the boxing community for financial assistance with Morrison’s funeral and burial expenses. The sports community certainly extends its condolences to Morrison’s widow Trisha, mother Diana, Tommy’s four children, and the extended Tommy Morrison family.
COMMENTS
English