Fighter was child when family fled
Boxer returns to war-torn Iraq to join national team
-Marty Gervais
Saturday, August 11, 2007
Andre Gorges, a tall, lanky, lean Iraqi-born boxer, will board a plane Sunday and return to his homeland, a country embroiled in war, terrorism and kidnapping.
He'll be returning to a place he hasn't seen since he was two.
He'll be returning to a land he fled with his father 20 years ago when it was engaged in a long drawn-out war with Iran.
He'll be returning to fight with the National Iraqi Boxing Team and compete in the Pan-Arab Games in Cairo in November.
And, from all accounts, the team can use the wily finesse of Gorges in the ring.
A week ago in Kansas City, he handily captured his third consecutive welterweight championship belt at the Ringside World Tournament.
A year ago, he was considered No. 2 in Canada behind Olympian Adam Trupish, also of Windsor.
In November, Gorges will defend his provincial title.
But Sunday, a plane ride paid for by the Iraqi National Olympic Committee will carry Gorges first to Amman, Jordan, and from there to Iraq.
In a small way, it's Iraq's way of creating some normalcy at a time when the world's focus is not on sports but on a country besieged by bombings and assassinations.
Gorges' return comes on the heels of the Iraqi soccer team's national morale-boosting triumph at the Asian Cup in Jakarta, Indonesia, last month. It was a first, a historic victory, especially considering a 50-to-1 odds against it winning .
When Iraq defeated Saudi Arabia in the final game, a million Iraqis swarmed the streets to celebrate as one and put thoughts of war and division aside.
For many it was a sign of hope.
Alireza Jafarzadeh of Fox News wrote, "Iraqis are wondering: If 11 young men can instill a sense of unity by playing soccer, can the government of and the 275 politicians elected to steer Iraq to a brighter future achieve the same result?"
It is into this mix of rare optimism -- when sports has become headline news -- that Gorges is returning home.
"I know I can win," the 22-year-old fighter said with confidence. "I'll show them I can do this."
To make that happen, and recapture yet more glory in sports, Tiras Odisho Anwaya, director general of sports in Iraq and head of the Iraqi National Olympic Committee, has invited Gorges' coach Josh Canty to train the Iraqi boxing team.
Canty, who was Canadian champ at 16 and now trains world champions Margaret Sidoroff and Jeannine Garside, has been conscripted to prepare the Iraqi team and Gorges for the Pan-Arab Games.
The Border City Boxing club owner will be on the plane with Gorges. They are headed for Suleymaniye, a Kurdish city of some 700,000 that lies about 485 kilometres north of war-weary Baghdad, where Gorges was born.
Within a day of his arrival, the Windsor fighter will unzip his gear and get ready for the gym.
Certainly, his concentration has to be on the training, but Gorges said in the back of his mind are the impressions his father shared with him of Iraq.
His dad had been with the Kurdish army before he left the country.
"I'd like to see Baghdad, but I know I can't -- it's too dangerous.
"For now, I'll be content to see Iraq. I have no memory of it. I was only a kid."
Still, for Gorges, it's home.
He believes that in returning, he'll connect with a part of his life that somehow has remained a mystery.
He sees his journey home as a way of making peace with his past.
"My roots are there. I speak the language (Chaldean). My father still has a house there," he said
"I can't wait to be there."
Gorges' family fled Iraq, first to Greece, then Toronto, before landing in Windsor where they have lived for 18 years.
They came as refugees. Maybe this has strengthened Gorges, given him character and something to draw upon in the ring.
Like any fighter, Gorges may speak of winning, but he knows defeat. He knows what it means to be down on the count. Talk to him about his family and how they had to learn to cope with the tribulations of fleeing one's homeland.
Gorges, however, is not one to quit.
In some ways, Canty explained, Gorges' approach mirrors that of the Iraqi boxers, or so he believes.
Canty has consulted with Maurice "Termite" Watkins, who coached the boxing team in Athens in 2004.
"He told me their fighters are pugnacious and strong-willed but lacking in technical skills .
"It's hard to teach the intangibles of heart and strength -- you either have it or not. And they have it.
"Gorges has learned those skills, but he is tough to beat -- he won't quit."
True enough.
"I can win," Gorges said.
He knows what it takes. Hard work. Tenaciousness. Pigheadedness. Skill. Six years of training.
When he started, Gorges was raw, undisciplined, and figured the smarts of a street fighter were on his side. He thought he'd easily clean up in the ring.
"I was the man on the street, but I quickly learned I was nuthin' in the ring. In my first fight this guy beat the crap out of me."
Boxing saved Gorges. Six years ago life was turning sour for him. He was nearly expelled from school for fighting.
"Things could have been a whole lot different, but he turned himself around," said Canty.
Gorges now channels his anger into the gym workouts where he tunes up his body and attitude for the next fight.
"Then I come out. I'm calm and happy," he said.
It is this zen-like calmness in his demeanor that Canty hopes to model to his fighters in Iraq.
Anwaya, of the Iraqi National Olympic Committee, said he has given Canty "the green light" to do what he must to turn these fighters into winners.
Canty speculated that with Gorges' assistance with the language, he should get his message across to the team.
"In my training, it's not like I'm teaching them English -- it'll be all about showing them technique.
"That's a language we can all understand, this language of the gym."
Are the two afraid to travel to Iraq?
"Not at all," said Canty.
Anwaya moved the training centre for the fighters out of Baghdad to Suleymaniye in the north.
"This is safe. None of the problems we have in the south are there," he said.
More Iraq Articles from Marty Gervais:
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