Maurice Watkins (boxer)

Maurice Watkins (born August 29, 1956) is a former 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.

Professional Boxing Career

Watkins 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, Bobby Rodriguez by knockout in one, and others. His fight with former United States Lightweight champion Norman Goins resulted in a three-round no contest. He also lost to Olympic gold medalist Howard Davis Jr. and Alfredo Escalera. On October 2 of 1980, at the Caesars Palace hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, he got his only world title shot, losing to Saoul Mamby by a fifteen-round decision for the WBC's world Jr. Welterweight title. He retired with 61 wins, 5 losses, 2 draws (tie), one no contest and 48 wins by knockout.^[1]

Professional boxing record

61 Wins (42 knockouts, 19 decisions), 5 Losses (0 knockouts, 5 decisions), 2 Draws, 1 No Contest
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Win	1-1	Yaqui Hernandez	PTS	6	16/03/1990	Phoenix, Arizona, United States
Win	12-10-1	Robert "The Line" Dixon	TKO	2	17/02/1990	Conroe, Texas, United States
Win	14-3-4	Joe "Attorney" Garcia	PTS	10	11/12/1989	Pasadena Convention Center, Pasadena, Texas, United States
Win	7-7-1	Moses "Governor" Robinson	KO	2	05/10/1989	Houston, Texas, United States
Win	4-4	"Candlelight" Virgil Green	KO	3	10/08/1989	Billings, Montana, United States
Win	--	Raymundo Lopez	KO	2	20/07/1989	Tucson Convention Center, Tucson, Arizona, United States
Win	1-0-1	Carlos "Rocky" Gonzalez	KO	1	01/06/1989	Phoenix, Arizona, United States
Win	6-1-1	Anthony "Two Gun" Williams	PTS	6	30/04/1989	Galveston, Texas, United States	57-57, 58-56, 57-57.
Loss	48-12-3	Alfredo Escalera	UD	10	12/11/1982	Orange Bowl, Miami, United States
Win	4-14	Paul Gentry	KO	4	22/09/1982	Houston, United States
Win	0-1	Jose "J-Rod" Rodriguez	KO	10	27/08/1982	Houston, United States
Win	60-34-3	Bruce Strauss	KO	3	17/08/1982	Blackham Coliseum, Lafayette, Louisiana, United States
Win	2-0	Billy "The Kid" Smith	KO	3	21/07/1982	Shreveport, Louisiana, United States
Loss	28-12-5	Saoul Mamby	UD	15	02/10/1980	Caesars Palace, Las Vegas, United States	WBC World Light Welterweight Title. 140-146, 139-147, 141-147.
Win	17-24	Larry "Legend" Moore	KO	3	22/05/1980	Holland, Michigan, United States
Win	23-25	Sammy Rookard	KO	4	06/04/1980	Astro Arena, Houston, United States
Win	3-2-1	Nathan "Famous" Davis	KO	3	22/03/1980	Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States
Win	0-11	Jimmy "Wakeboard" Martinez	KO	1	09/01/1980	Holland, Michigan, United States
Loss	11-0	Howard Davis, Jr.	UD	10	14/09/1979	Houston Summit, Houston, Texas, United States
Win	2-8	Roberto "Baby" Perez	KO	7	15/08/1979	Beaumont Civic Center, Beaumont, Texas, United States
Draw	9-4-1	Teodoro Osuna	PTS	10	09/03/1979	Madison Square Garden, New York City, United States
Win	1-3-1	Richie Lee Roberts	KO	3	16/01/1979	Houston, United States
Win	2-1-1	Arthur "Space Odyssey" Clarke	KO	7	09/12/1978	Houston, United States
Win	0-6	Gary "Black" Smith	KO	5	02/11/1978	Orlando, Florida, United States
Win	16-11-1	Rick Craney	KO	1	15/08/1978	Houston, United States
Win	21-19-1	Joe Medrano	KO	7	16/05/1978	Houston, United States
Win	1-8-2	John "Wolf" Morgan	KO	4	20/04/1978	Houston, United States
Win	15-6	Hilbert Stevenson	PTS	10	11/04/1978	Orlando, Florida, United States
Win	5-1	Benny Marquez	PTS	10	19/01/1978	Houston, United States
Win	10-1	Steve "Hammer" Homan	PTS	10	01/12/1977	Houston, United States
Win	15-10	Freddie "Stepper" Harris	PTS	10	25/10/1977	Orlando, Florida, United States
Win	--	Cuyo Mendoza	TKO	3	27/09/1977	Orlando, Florida, United States
Win	6-4	Paulino Garcia	TKO	5	22/09/1977	Curtis Hixon Hall, Tampa, Florida, United States
Win	12-11	Ernesto Ortega	KO	7	26/07/1977	Orlando, Florida, United States
No Contest	17-5-1	"Stormin" Norman Goins	ND	10	22/03/1977	Memorial Coliseum, Corpus Christi, Texas, United States
Win	7-2	Jose "Speedy" Gonzalez	PTS	10	16/02/1977	Orlando, Florida, United States
Loss	4-10	Augustin Estrada	UD	10	17/11/1976	Convention Center Arena, San Antonio, United States	90-98, 93-94, 97-98.
Win	2-2	Otto Breeding	KO	3	26/10/1976	Orlando, Florida, United States
Win	13-11-1	Arturo Leon	UD	10	21/09/1976	Corpus Christi, Texas, United States
Win	14-6	Rocky Ramon	PTS	12	31/08/1976	Corpus Christi, Texas, United States
Win	4-7	Agustin Estrada	TKO	7	09/08/1976	Municipal Auditorium, New Orleans, United States
Win	4-3	Richie Puentes	KO	6	24/07/1976	Biloxi, Mississippi, United States
Loss	18-5-2	Adriano Marrero	SD	10	16/03/1976	Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami Beach, Florida, United States
Win	2-5	Valente Ramos	KO	3	09/03/1976	Orlando, Florida, United States
Win	4-4	Lamar Baskin	KO	2	24/02/1976	Albuquerque Civic Auditorium, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
Win	0-1	Chamaco Cuenca	KO	5	10/02/1976	Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami Beach, Florida, United States
Win	13-0	Juan "and Only" Hidalgo	UD	10	20/01/1976	Miami Beach Convention Center, Miami Beach, Florida, United States
Win	--	Bobby Flores	TKO	6	18/11/1975	Houston, United States
Win	9-2-1	Larry Peterson	KO	5	19/08/1975	Orlando, Florida, United States
Win	0-1-2	Gene Prado	UD	10	29/07/1975	Circle Star Theater, San Carlos, California, United States
Win	31-10-1	Marion "Tiger" Thomas	KO	7	16/07/1975	Houston, United States
Win	6-3-4	Victor de la Cruz	UD	10	17/06/1975	San Jose Civic Auditorium, San Jose, California, United States
Win	7-4	Leroy Walker	TKO	8	21/05/1975	Circle Star Theater, San Carlos, California, United States
Win	0-1	Rudy Gonzalez	PTS	10	06/05/1975	San Jose, California, United States
Win	4-4-1	Otis Locklear	KO	3	22/04/1975	Orlando, Florida, United States
Win	2-5	Mike Whymms	PTS	8	15/04/1975	Orlando, Florida, United States
Win	9-2	Gilbert "Machete" Galvan	PTS	10	17/02/1975	Memorial Coliseum, Corpus Christi, Texas, United States
Win	8-6	Dave Kibby	UD	8	29/01/1975	Cow Palace, San Francisco, United States
Win	4-4-1	Vicente Hernandez	PTS	10	17/01/1975	San Jose Civic Auditorium, San Jose, California, United States
Win	0-2	"Sugar" Ray Sears	PTS	6	17/12/1974	Orlando, Florida, United States
Win	--	Robert "Baby" Perez	KO	1	10/11/1974	Corpus Christi, Texas, United States
Win	23-7-2	Bobby Rodriguez	KO	1	13/10/1974	Corpus Christi, Texas, United States
Win	0-3	Ricky Ramos	KO	4	26/08/1974	Corpus Christi, Texas, United States
Win	13-13	Nick Alfaro	PTS	8	18/08/1974	Houston, United States
Win	0-2	Arturo Cirillos	KO	3	05/08/1974	Corpus Christi, Texas, United States
Win	5-9	Harvey "Candyman" Wilson	KO	6	16/07/1974	Houston, United States
Win	0-1	Arturo Cirillos	TKO	4	02/07/1974	Houston, United States
Win	1-3	Lupe Cantù	KO	3	04/06/1974	Houston, United States
Win	0-1	Cesar Cortez	KO	1	21/05/1974	Houston, United States

After Boxing

After retiring, Watkins went back to Texas to work as a fumigator. In 2003, the American military, needing personnel to work rebuilding Iraq's infrastructure, contracted him as a fumigator to work on Iraqi homes that had been decaying and infected with insects during Saddam Hussein's presidency.

In 2008, writer Suzy Pepper, a former neighbor of Maurice Watkins, released "Termite", a biographical book about Watkins.^[2] Also in 2008, a movie based on the book was announced.^[3]

In Iraq

After the IOC announced that Iraq would be allowed to compete in seven sports at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, including boxing, the United States military 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. Realizing he needed to train the team in a setting different from Baghdad, he moved his team to a city close to Baghdad, but much quieter than the capital city. He trained nine Iraqi boxers who hoped to reach the Olympics, but only Najah Ali was able to qualify for the games.

Notes

1. "Maurice Watkins". Archived from the original on 2012-10-05. Retrieved 2008-05-11.
2. "bookmasters.com". Archived from the original on 2008-08-29. Retrieved 2008-08-01.
3. "pathsapartproductions.com". Archived from the original on 2008-09-23. Retrieved 2008-08-01.

External links

• Boxing record for Maurice Watkins from BoxRec (registration required)