Former box heavyweight champion and Rocky V star  Tommy Morrison  who won a heavyweight title by beating George Foreman  has died at the age of 44.

Nicknamed “The Duke”, Morrison died on Sunday at a Nebraska hospital, his promoter Tony Holden said. His family has not released a cause of death.

In 1993, Morrison beat then 44-year-old Foreman to win the WBO heavyweight title.

After losing the title to Michael Bentt, he then fought Lennox Lewis in 1995, but was knocked out in the sixth round in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

But he was perhaps best known for his role in the 1990 film Rocky V after Sylvester Stallone cast him as Tommy “Machine” Gunn.

In 1996, Morrison was diagnosed with HIV, and his boxing licence was quickly suspended.

He blamed his condition on a “permissive, fast and reckless lifestyle”, but later refused to accept the diagnosis and continued to claim the test was false.

His mother, Diana Morrison, told ESPN he had been in denial about having HIV ever since receiving the first test results.

In an interview last month she said: “He’s in the end stages. That’s it.

“I tell him that the family loves him, he’s always in our prayers … I don’t tell him to keep fighting or nothing, because I want him to go.”

Morrison was jailed for two years in 2000 after weapons charges and multiple drink-driving arrests.

After his release, he continued to insist his HIV diagnosis was incorrect and he wanted to resume his boxing career.

He passed medical tests in Texas in 2007 and entered the ring again. He finished his career with 49 wins from his 52 fights.

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