Maurice “Termite” Watkins fought nearly 70 times as a professional boxer, but he won the fight of his life Tuesday when he was released from Memorial Hermann in Houston 35 days after he first started experiencing symptoms of Covid-19.
Watkins, who compiled a 61-5-2 record and 42 knockouts as a professional and is currently the manager and trainer of touted prospect Evan Holyfield, had been hospitalized since March 26 and had an up and down battle with the virus that included being on a ventilator.
“Tears are streaming down my face,” said the 63-year-old Watkins’ wife Cindy. “My fighter beat the odds because God heard our prayers. We don’t see miracles everyday, but we will get to see our miracle walk out of those hospital doors and into my arms today. My love is coming home. I finally get to touch him, hug him and maybe even steal a kiss!”
Last week, Cindy pleaded for urgent prayers to improve her then-hospitalized husband’s blood pressure, functioning of the kidneys, as well as for a fever and lung infection to subside. Watkins was hospitalized for a total of 27 days.
Watkins earned the nickname “Termite” throughout his 16-year career that spanned from 1974 to 1990 because the Houston-based boxer was born into a family that was in the insect-killing business. He was a professional fumigator as well.
Watkins survived life on the streets and ended up being a Golden Gloves Champion at 16-years-old, compiling an amateur record of 128 wins and 10 losses. He received his only world title shot in 1980, dropping a fifteen-round decision to Saoul Mamb for the WBC junior welterweight title on the undercard of the Muhammad Ali versus Larry Holmes fight.
After Watkins retired, he was asked to put his pest control skills to use in Iraq for U.S. military camps fumigating bugs, scorpions and snakes in Al Hillah. Shortly after, he was asked to coach and qualify the Iraqi boxing team for the 2004 Olympics, which had not had a boxer reach the Summer Games since 1988. Watkins ended up leading Najah Ali to the Athens Olympics with just 10 months of tutelage.
In addition to training Holyfield, the son of four-time heavyweight champion and Hall of Fame fighter Evander Holyfield, Watkins presides over a pool of Lone Star State-based amateurs.
He is also a motivational speaker through the Termite Watkins Charitable Foundation, an organization formed to promote the education of underprivileged kids in the community to improve needed techniques to promote self-worth, self-esteem and self-improvement through physical activities with boxing. He also heads the boxing ministry "Fighter Nation" for gang members, ex-convicts and ex-drug dealers.
Manouk Akopyan is a sports journalist and member of the Boxing Writers Assn. of America since 2011. He has written for the likes of the LA Times, Guardian, USA Today, Philadelphia Inquirer, Men’s Health and NFL.com and currently does TV commentary for combat sports programming that airs on Fox Sports and hosts his own radio show in Los Angeles. He can be reached on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube at @ManoukAkopyan or via email at manouk[dot]akopyan[at]gmail.com