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Maurice Watkins (born August 29, 1956) is a former
Boxing|boxer from Houston, Texas. Nicknamed
Termite, he was born into a family that was in the
insect killing business, and he is a professional
fumigator.

He turned professional as a boxer on May 21, 1974,
beating Cesar Cortez by knockout in round one at
Houston. Through his career, Watkins fought some
of the best fighters in the Lightweight and Jr.
Welterweight divisions. He beat Marion Thomas by a
knockout in round seven, Rocky Ramon by a decision
in twelve, Arturo Leon by decision in ten, Bruce
Strauss by knockout in three, and others. His
fight with former United States Lightweight
champion Norman Goins resulted in a three round No
contest (boxing)|no contest. He also lost to
Olympic Games|Olympic gold medalist Howard Davis
Jr.. and Alfredo Escalera. On October 2 of 1980,
at the Caesar's Palace hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada,
he got his only world title shot, losing to Saoul
Mamby by a fifteen round decision for the World
Boxing Council|WBC's world Jr. Welterweight title.
He retired with 59 wins, 5 losses, 2 draws (tie),
one no contest and 40 wins by knockout.

After retiring, Watkins went back to Texas to work
as a fumigator. He remained in obscurity there for
many years. 

In 2003, the United States|American military,
needing personnel to work rebuilding Iraq's
infraestructure, contracted him as a fumigator to
work on Iraqi homes that had been decaying and
infected with insects during Saddam Hussein's
presidency. The military did not know of Watkins'
background as a boxer.

After the IOC announced that Iraq would be allowed
to compete in seven sports at the 2004 Olympics in
Athens, Greece|Athens, including boxing, the
United States military, overviewing the new Iraqi
Olympic committee, set about to find a new boxing
coach for the Iraqi national boxing team. With
research, they found out about Watkins'
background, and invited him to coach a team of
young hopefuls in Baghdad, Iraq|Baghdad. When
Watkins arrived there, he saw what he described to
a Sports Illustrated columnist as not too much
talent, but a lot of heart.

Realizing he needed to train the team in a setting
different to Baghdad, he moved his team to a city
close to Baghdad, but much more quieter than the
capital city. He trained nine Iraqi boxers who
hoped to reach the Olympics, but, out of those,
only Najah Ali was able to qualify for the games. 

During the Boxing training|training period of
these young prospects, he invented a phrase that
has become widely popular in Iraq: Every morning,
after arrival to the gym, he would chant Iraq!
Iraq! Iraq is back! to help inspire his boxers.
The phrase has become so popular in Iraq that the
United States military has ordered 1,000 t-shirts
to be printed with the phrase, to be handled among
Iraqi citizens.

==External link==
http://boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=01833
0 Watkins record from Boxrec.com