Edition: U.S. / Global

Sports of The Times; At Risk: One Boxer, Who Else?

Published: November 5, 1992

MAGIC JOHNSON isn't alone. There's at least one other athlete out there who has tested positive for H.I.V., the virus that leads to AIDS.

The other athlete is a boxer. Sandy Johnson of the Nevada State Athletic Commission won't identify him other than to acknowledge that he is not a marquee name. Fifteen months ago, the commission informed the boxer that he couldn't fight on a Las Vegas undercard. He had been medically suspended for having tested positive for H.I.V.

"We referred him," Johnson said, "back to the health district offices in Las Vegas."

According to Johnson, that boxer has fought twice in California since then, but Rich DeCuir, the executive officer of the California Athletic Commission, denied that. According to DeCuir, the boxer was on a card that didn't materialize.

"When we learned he was on medical suspension in Nevada, he wouldn't have been allowed to fight anyway," DeCuir said. "Under California law, we can't test for H.I.V., but we can uphold another state's suspension."

Nevada is believed to be the only state that tests boxers for the AIDS virus. Its rule, in effect since early 1988, is that a boxer must provide a certified result of an H.I.V. test either before his second appearance there in each calendar year, or before his second appearance there over all.

Evander Holyfield, for example, must provide an H.I.V. result before his heavyweight title defense in Las Vegas next Friday night because he hasn't been tested in Nevada for two years.

The challenger, Riddick Bowe, having been tested there in July, is not required to provide a certified result.

Why not test a boxer before every fight?

"Because there are so many last-minute changes on most undercards," Johnson explained. "It takes too long to get the results of a test to fit in all the changes."

But how many other athletes have contracted the AIDS virus? How many will contract it in the future?

If some players in the National Basketball Association were so concerned about competing against Magic that the controversy contributed to his canceling his comeback, shouldn't they be equally concerned about what other players, if any, are H.I.V. positive?

Shouldn't athletes in other sports be concerned about what competitors, if any, are H.I.V. positive? Especially those in the bloodier sports, such as boxing and hockey?

Apparently not. The prevailing medical opinion is that the chance of contracting AIDS in a contact sport is very remote and that there is no documented case of such transmission.

Randy Gordon, the poobah of the New York State Athletic Commission, cited the added cost of testing. Gil Stein, the president of the National Hockey League, reported that the N.H.L. Players Association is against mandatory H.I.V. testing while acknowledging "we haven't been confronted" yet.

But a year ago the N.B.A. was confronted almost by accident. Magic Johnson tested positive during an insurance-policy physical.

Shortly after Magic's disclosure, the N.B.A. ordered its doctors and trainers to wear surgical gloves when treating a player for any blood-related wound. But in a news-agency photo showing a Laker trainer swabbing a scratch on Magic's arm during an exhibition game last week, the trainer was not wearing surgical gloves.

Even if a N.B.A. player were to test positive now, he has no obligation to disclose that. Charles Grantham of the N.B.A. Players Association has said that the probability of H.I.V. is "not a major concern." Brian McIntyre of the N.B.A. office mentioned the legal ramifications of testing. "And what purpose," McIntyre added, "would testing serve?"

To answer that question, consider whose rights represent the greater good? The right to privacy of those players in any sport who test positive in the future? Or the right of those players' teammates and opponents to know who has tested positive?

Doug Allen, assistant director of the National Football League Players Association, insisted that the "desire to know doesn't overwhelm the individual's right to privacy." Joe Browne of the N.F.L. office agreed the risk is "minuscule."

But in Magic Johnson's reversal, his opponents' knowledge and fear of the minuscule risk apparently was the prevailing factor.

At least Don Fehr, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, seemed to see a solution, predicting that in "three or four years, for people of a certain age, H.I.V. testing will be part of a routine physical."

Until then, administrators of most sports seem to believe that what their athletes don't know won't hurt them. But with the AIDS virus, ignorance is not bliss.

Photo: Magic Johnson. (Reuters)