Testing Tommy Morrison

Tommy Morrison's attempted ring comeback -- in boxing and most recently in a form of mixed martial arts (on June 9) -- has brought new media attention to the status of his health. Morrison tested positive for HIV in 1996 and left the sport, seemingly for good. After more than a decade away, he boxed in West Virginia early this year, after the commission there accepted paperwork indicating new tests for the virus were negative.

Norm Frauenheim reports in the Arizona Rebublic that Morrison's former agent, Randy Lang, said Morrison recently tested positive for HIV in mandatory blood tests for a boxing license in Arizona, a charge the boxer has denied. Morrison, 38, says that even the original test in Las Vegas that disqualified him was a false-positive. But Dr. Margaret Goodman, who worked as a physician for the Nevada Athletic Commission at the time, writes at Secondsout.com that "he was tested twice. The results were checked and rechecked by the most reputable lab in the country and deemed indisputable." Howard Reynolds, a boxing writer who who by day works as an M.D., writes at RingsideReport.com that "Morrison has no business, nor any right, as a participant in any combat sport."

Outside of the BWAA, Elizabeth Merrill takes stock of the messy situation on ESPN.com. Over at the big mixed martial arts site sherdog.com (there's no MMAWAA), they're calling Morrison's fight "criminal" -- because it changed the rules and wasn't a genuine mixed-martial arts bout at all. Morrison won his "MMA debut" by punching out a big guy named John Stover.

It's Flag Day: So enjoy this 11-second video of an old guy boxing a flag pole.