HOUSTON (AP) – Texas state officials issued a boxing license to former heavyweight champion Tommy Morrison, clearing the way for him to fight in Houston on Friday night.

Morrison, the 38-year-old former WBO champion, is scheduled to face Dale Ortiz in a four-round bout at the Grand Plaza Hotel in Houston. It will be Morrison’s second fight since launching his comeback earlier this year after an 11-year retirement following the discovery that he was HIV positive.

State officials had sought more medical information from Morrison earlier this week before issuing his license.

Although Patrick Shaughnessy, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, couldn’t discuss specifics of Morrison’s case, he said all applicants are required to submit blood samples for testing for Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV. Applicants testing positive for any of those are rejected, Shaughnessy said.

Morrison won the WBO title in 1993 by outpointing George Foreman, but lost the title later that year. In February 1996, he tested HIV positive just before a fight against Stormy Weathers and retired. Morrison returned to the ring in February with a second-round knockout of John Castle in West Virginia.

West Virginia Athletic commissioner Steve Allred approved Morrison’s participation in that fight after reviewing medical records and consulting with the Association of Boxing Commissions’ medical review committee.

Morrison has said he has taken several HIV tests while preparing for his comeback and all have been negative. According to the National Institutes for Health, drugs can suppress the human immunodeficiency virus to undetectable levels but cannot eliminate it from the body.

AP-ES-04-26-07 1730EDT