Tommy Morrison's first sexual encounter came at age 13. A 17-year-old babysitter initiated it, he says.
Many of the relationships that followed are far more difficult for the boxer to recall since they often lasted only one night. But no matter how many times young Tommy Morrison had sex, AIDS never crossed his mind."I'm here to tell you I thought that I was bulletproof, and I'm not," the 27-year-old said Thursday.
His muscles bulge from a white T-shirt. His ruddy tan gives him a health resort glow. An image of brute strength, Morrison's appearance belies the results of a second test confirming he has the virus that causes the fatal disease.
Nearly five years ago, Morrison watched as Los Angeles Lakers star Magic Johnson told the world that he had tested HIV positive. Morrison's only thought: "Boy, I wouldn't want to live in LA."
On Thursday, it was Morrison who stood before the television cameras announcing his retirement and preaching the message that AIDS does not discriminate.
"It's right in your backyard," he said after a news conference. "It's not even safe to live on a ranch in Jay, Okla."
At the home of his promoter, Tony Holden, Morrison sat in an office framed by posters bearing his image in ferocious poses. Big block letters scream Tommy "The Duke" Morrison vs. George Foreman, Razor Ruddock and a half-dozen others.
"There was about a three-year period . . . I went through a number of one-night stands. I didn't do the right thing," he said.
The young boxer from the town of Jay in the northeastern Oklahoma hills admits being overwhelmed by the fame that came with his boxing career and appearance in the movie "Rocky V."
He became reckless, careless. Magic's message never hit home. Morrison said he is "95 percent certain" he contracted the disease by living a very promiscuous lifestyle for about three years.
But he won't rule out transmission through bloody bouts.
"Any time you're in a blood sport that risk is there," Morrison said. "But they (doctors) say you have a better chance of a light bulb falling out of the ceiling and hitting you on the head during the boxing match than actually contracting the virus."
Morrison was suspended from worldwide boxing after a required HIV test came up positive just before last Saturday's fight against Arthur Weathers.
"I've made a lot of mistakes in my life," he said during the news conference. "However, if getting up here today, confronting this problem out in the open, can get just one person out there to take a more responsible attitude toward sex, then I feel I would have scored my biggest knockout ever."