Tipsheet

Rocky V Star Returns to Ring

This is a very unusual story:

"Former heavyweight champion and "Rocky V" co-star, Tommy Morrison, has been cleared by doctors to return to the ring. Despite being forced out of boxing after testing positive HIV, Morrison now maintains that he no longer has the virus and suggests that he never had it to begin with.

Morrison, who was indefinitely barred from the ring after a positive HIV test on the eve of a 1996 bout in Las Vegas, has officially been cleared to return to the ring after passing a slew medical tests."

... "It's been a long time coming," Morrison told ESPN.com. "I know I didn't have [HIV] in the first place. I never had it. I believe it, but they kicked me out of the sport. ... Over the last two or three months, I have taken five, six different [HIV] tests and continued to pass them. It was just a matter of time before they had to let me fight again."

Let me get this straight: He may have spent the last decade thinking he was HIV positive, when he wasn't??? Unbelievable.  On the other hand, he is scheduled to box in West Virginia, a state which does not require a blood test for boxers (though Morrison has reportedly passed other HIV tests).  Very odd story ..