Boxing coach Termite Watkins talks to members of the Iraqi national boxing team Tuesday afternoon at their training facility in Hilla, Iraq. ( J.B. FORBES/P-D)

HILLA, Iraq - Maurice "Termite" Watkins came to Iraq a year ago to kill bugs. Now, he's trying to lead the Iraqi National Boxing Team to a comeback.

Watkins, an exterminator and car salesman from Houston, is a former Golden Gloves champion whose athletic experience was tapped to aim the boxers' sights on Athens and this summer's Olympic Games.

"Iraq is back!" said Watkins, echoing the phrase that has become the rallying cry for the rag-tag bunch of Olympic hopefuls.

The team already tallied a huge victory by winning one of two wild card spots offered to 32 countries for this summer's games, ensuring that an Iraqi boxer will enter the opening ceremonies sporting the black and green national colors.

"I will probably cry, because I've become very emotional over here," said Watkins, 47. "But it won't be for me, but for these people. I can assure you, I will probably sob."

Watkins arrived here nearly a year ago as a pest control specialist with Kellogg, Brown & Root, the chief military contractor in Iraq. He'd grown up in a family that owned such a business - hence the nickname he's carried since he was an infant.

Wilson lives in Deer Park, Texas, outside of Houston. He's a licensed pest-control expert, but he left the field for car sales, in which he was making a comfortable living until he was tapped for Iraq.

"I felt it was my responsibility to support the troops who were doing so much to support our country, he said. His wife begged him not to go but eventually relented, he said.

Through a series of unusual turns, he left Kellogg, Brown & Root and went to work for the American-led Coalition Provisional Authority, where he wound up working with Iraq's ministry of youth and sports.

The squat, pug-nosed Watkins had racked up his own impressive ring record as both an amateur and professional. He rose through the amateur ranks in Texas and became a Golden Gloves national champion. He fought on the same USA Olympic boxing team as Sugar Ray Leonard but turned pro at 17 before he had a chance to participate in the games.

He fought in a professional title bout before eventually retiring at 31. He trained fighters for several years before car sales beckoned. He'd wanted to get back into the fight game but never thought Iraq would provide that chance.

Naja Salah, a 23-year-old Iraqi who fights at 106 pounds, is glad it did.

"He's a great man," Salah said of Watkins. "We don't view him as an American coach. Termite is my second family. We want to win for him, but more for ourselves and for Iraq. My biggest dream is to represent my country."

Watkins inherited a team with 24 fighters who hadn't fought competitively in two years, hadn't participated in a major competition in four years and hadn't left the country in 14 years. They trained in decrepit facilities in Baghdad. The undersized ring had no canvas, no cushions and only three ropes. They had no shoes, no gloves and little training equipment.

Watkins had 57 days to train before their first international competition; most countries spend two or three years to prepare for such events, he said.

The coalition provided him $200,000 for his effort, including equipment purchases and the renovation of the gym in Hilla, where he moved the team's training headquarters . The fly-infested gym, with bare cement walls, holds two boxing rings, five speed bags and five heavy bags. It reeks with the same stale smell of sweat found in any corner boxing club.

The team was standoffish at first, not sure what to make of Watkins. He talked to them about it being their time, that they deserved a chance, that Iraq was back.

In January, he took 11 boxers to their first competition in the Philippines. They had no time to purchase warm-up robes and instead entered the arena wearing Iraqi flags pinned at the neck.

"When we walked in with our flag and colors it was the most awesome feeling in the world," he said. "When I watched them walk with their chests out and their pride, I could have cried."

They didn't win, but Watkins stressed the positives.

"We'd overcome so much," he said. "We'd gotten them out of Iraq for the first time, built relations and got good publicity."

The team soon hopes to travel to Olympic qualifying matches in China and Pakistan in the hopes of winning more spots in the games. He thinks he could send as many as three fighters.

"We're going with the intention of kicking butt," he said.

He is trying to move the team to Great Britain to train. A shortage of sparring partners in Iraq has led to several injuries. Already the team is down to nine healthy boxers.

"I live in a country that's full of opportunity," he said. "I just want these kids to have that same chance. We want to let the world know that this isn't the Termite Watkins show. The story is about Iraq. It's Iraq's boxing team."

Muhawi S. Shibly is an Iraqi who is helping Watkins with the team.

"We feel he is very close to us and very kind," Shibly said. "Iraqis are emotional. He is like us. We are a team. If he is not here, I will feel like something is lost."

Shibly is grateful for the changes occurring in his land and the chance to meet people like Watkins.

"Even if my life ends, I am happy," he said. "We are free. I hope we know how to use it and protect it."

Watkins hopes to stay here two more years, but he knows that one day he will depart.

His wife, Sharla, once reluctant for him to leave Texas, now supports his decision to stay in Iraq.

"She knows how passionate I am about these people, how committed I am to them and how I've grown to love them," he said. "When I see the joy it brings to these men, who are so deserving, and see the people light up, that tells me I've done my job. The job will be complete when I walk away and the boxing continues."

On Tuesday afternoon, he climbed into one of the rings. His fighters surrounded him and hung on each word relayed by a translator.

"It's your time," he said. "Iraq has been held back for 35 years. It's your time to shine. Remember, you're the national team of Iraq, representing this country, representing your family. You've got something to stand for and shine for."

With that the team broke into the rallying cry he had taught them:

"Iraq is back!"



Reporter Phillip O'Connor
E-mail: poconnor@post-dispatch.com
Phone: 314-340-8321