Watkins fought for a world title in Las Vegas, caught rats in Texas, dodged bombs in Baghdad and took Iraq’s one-man boxing team to the Athens Olympics in the summer of 2004.
Right now, Watkins is still waiting for George Clooney to play him in a movie adaptation of his remarkable life on both sides of the ropes. And it is mostly all true. Some versions have Brad Pitt as Termite and Sylvester Stallone directing. I’m not inventing this.
In 1980, outdoors in Las Vegas at Caesars Palace, Watkins lost over 15 rounds to Saoul Mamby for the WBC light welterweight title. It was the chief supporting fight to Muhammad Ali’s losing bid to regain the heavyweight championship of the world from Larry Holmes. Those are impressive facts and all true. Watkins fought a total of 69 times as a professional, winning 61 of those fights.
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