ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 14, 1996 TAG: 9602140059
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LAS VEGAS
SOURCE: Associated Press
THE CRY FOR AIDS TESTING for boxers in all states is louder than ever after Tommy Morrison tests positive for the HIV virus.
A day after Tommy Morrison admitted testing positive for the HIV virus, the referee in Morrison's bloody fight with Lennox Lewis calmed his mind by taking an AIDS test of his own that came back negative.
Boxing officials across the country, meanwhile, renewed calls for all states with boxing to test for HIV in the wake of Morrison's test that shook the boxing world.
``I hope we can get a bill passed in California before something major happens in this state, before some documented transmission occurs in a boxing ring,'' said Richard DeCuir, head of the California Athletic Commission.
The confirmation Monday of Morrison's positive test prompted referee Mills Lane to go to his doctor in Reno, Nev., and have blood drawn to make sure he had not contracted the virus. The results came back negative Tuesday.
``My doctor called me about 4:30 today and and told me I was absolutely negative,'' Lane said.
Lane was the third man in the ring in Morrison's Oct.7 loss to Lennox Lewis in Atlantic City, N.J., in which Morrison was cut around both eyes in the second round and bled much of the way before the fight was stopped in the seventh round.
``I had blood all over me,'' Lane said. ``He bled all over me and everyone else.''
Lane, a state judge in Reno who has worked 78 title fights as a referee, said he was unaware at the time New Jersey was one of the many states that do not require boxers to take tests for the HIV virus, which causes AIDS. It is not known if Morrison had the virus at the time he fought Lewis.
Lane said he was told by his doctor there was only an infinitesimal chance he could have contracted the virus in the ring, but he wanted to take the test to make sure.
``I've got a family. I've got a wife and two children,'' he said.
While Lane had his HIV test, Lewis remained at a remote mountain retreat in Jamaica, where promoter Dino Duva said it was very difficult to reach him.
Duva said Lewis is scheduled to be tested for the HIV virus in March in Britain as part of that country's requirements for his annual boxing license.
``I assume that's what he will do,'' Duva said. ``I don't think he'll rush it. The risk if very small, from what I understand.''
Morrison, meanwhile, remained in seclusion in Oklahoma, waiting for results of a second set of tests taken Monday to confirm the Las Vegas test. The results of the latest test were expected today.
Morrison was expected to appear at a news conference in Tulsa, Okla., on Thursday to discuss the results.
His promoter, Tony Holden, said agents for Morrison and Magic Johnson were arranging a telephone call between the two. Holden said it likely would be a personal discussion of how to deal with the illness and the media attention.
``Magic is probably the best person to talk to him right now,'' Holden said.
Former heavyweight champion Riddick Bowe said, however, that basketball and boxing are far apart when it comes to an HIV-infected athlete being allowed to compete.
``I think it's great for people like Magic Johnson to have the opportunity to come back and play basketball, doing what he does best,'' Bowe said. ``But as far as boxing is concerned, unlike other sports, it's bloody and violent and the risk is far too great for fighters to contract the virus through physical contact. I would not fight someone who is HIV-positive. It would just be too great a risk for me, my wife and children.''
The aftermath of Morrison's admission affected not only his former opponents and referees, but much of the boxing world as an outcry grew for mandatory HIV testing of all boxers.
Nevada's top boxing official said he will push to have other states begin testing like Nevada, which has tested some 2,100 boxers since beginning its HIV program in 1988. Nevada is one of only a handful of states that require HIV testing.
``We test about 200 to 300 boxers a year, but there's another couple of thousand that aren't tested and are fighting in a blood sport in other states,'' said Marc Ratner, who is head of the Nevada boxing commission. ``It doesn't make sense. But sometimes it takes something like this to shock the world. Maybe this will be a catalyst for the rest of the states.''
Ratner, who is president of the Association of Boxing Commissions, said he would push for mandatory testing at the association's annual meeting in June.
LENGTH: Medium: 85 linesby CNB