Termite helps Iraq get back the boxing bug

It did not take long before word got around that Watkins had enjoyed a distinguished career as a boxer back home in the United States and he was asked to take over the team.

With funding from the Coalition Provisional Authority, Termite said goodbye to pests last November and called 24 of Iraq's best amateur boxers to Hillah, a city south of Baghdad, for the first of many pre-Olympic training camps.

"These guys didn't even smile," Watkins told Reuters on a training visit to London last week. "Some of them had been beaten. They were embittered about the world, they had absolutely no equipment, no shoes and no gloves."

Saddam Hussein's regime had turned the Olympic ideal of Pierre de Coubertin on its head. It was not the competing that counted, only winning. Saddam's son, Uday, once head of Iraq's Olympic committee, would punish athletes if he was displeased with their performance.

"At the very least, they would shave your head to shame you, or you would be imprisoned," said Abdul Zahra Jewad Ali, one of the boxing team's coaches. "But there are many stories of beatings and torture."

TEAM DANCE

At first, the team were unsure what to make of their new Texan coach and his vow to take them to August's Olympics in Athens.

"I talked to them about it being their time, that they deserved a chance," Watkins said. "They used to fight out of fear under Saddam's regime, now they fight out of joy."

Watkins broke down the barriers by beginning each training session with a team dance and a chant of "Iraq is back! Iraq is back!" -- a phrase that became a rallying cry for the Olympic hopefuls and is now printed across the team's official shirts.

Lucky

But with just over 100 days until the Athens Games, Watkins prefers to focus on the practicalities of boxing. Good facilities and sparring partners were in short supply in Iraq, and help from abroad was crucial, he said.

The team spent a week training in London, facilitated by the London 2012 Olympic bid organisers and the Amateur Boxing Association of England, ahead of this month's final Olympic regional qualifying tournament in Pakistan.

ALI BILL

Watkins, 47, himself might have fought in the Olympics. He was a member of the same United States team as Sugar Ray Leonard, but decided to turn professional.

With 59 wins out of 67 fights, his career climaxed in 1980 when he fought for the world light-welterweight title on the same bill that saw Larry Holmes defeat Muhammad Ali.

Watkins never thought Iraq would provide him with another chance to use his boxing expertise.

Najah Salah, a 22-year-old member of the team and one of three tipped by Watkins to make it to Athens, is glad it did.

"He's a great man," Salah, smiling shyly, said. "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."

The team have already scored a victory by winning one wild card entry for the Games from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), ensuring that an Iraqi boxer will enter the opening ceremony sporting the black and green national colours.

"My biggest dream is to represent my country in Athens," said Salah.