The confirmation Monday that boxer Tommy Morrison had tested positive in Nevada for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, has given new ammunition to those questioning the lack of similar testing requirements in California. But the question of how much of a risk boxers and those around them take by engaging in their sport in this age of AIDS remains unanswered.

"The amount of infective viral particles in the blood and the amount of blood someone is exposed to determines the risk. If the chances of {contracting HIV} are one in a billion in basketball and you've got 10 times the risk in boxing, that would be 10 in one billion. That's still small. But I don't know what the numbers are. No one knows. We're all just guessing.

Still, it's a risk that Bill Eastman, chairman of the California Athletic Commission, does not think should be taken. Morrison had been scheduled to fight Saturday night in Las Vegas, but when his HIV test was positive, he was suspended by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, which had administered the test. That would not have been the case in California, which does not require fighters to take an HIV test.