Story highlights Morrison won the WBO heavyweight title in 1993

He played Tommy "Machine" Gunn in "Rocky V"

The fighter died in Omaha with his wife by his side

Tommy Morrison, a former heavyweight boxing champion who starred in the "Rocky V" film, died, his former promoter told CNN. He was 44.

Morrison died at an Omaha, Nebraska, hospital Sunday night with his wife at his side, Tony Holden said.

Morrison was interviewed by Larry King from Holden's living room on February 1996 -- the night he announced he had tested positive for HIV. In recent years, he claimed that the HIV test produced a false positive.

Holden, who said he spoke with Morrison or his wife several times a week for the past year, would not comment on the cause of his death or the state of his health in recent months.

Morrison played the character Tommy "Machine" Gunn in "Rocky V," made in 1990. It's one of the series of the popular Rocky films starring Sylvester Stallone, who played boxer Rocky Balboa.

Morrison won the World Boxing Organization heavyweight title in 1993, defeating George Foreman. He also fought and lost to boxing great Lennox Lewis in 1995.