Joinery lecturer Gareth Alexander showed he is as hard as the nails he teaches students how to hit, by becoming a World Kickboxing Association Seniors World Champion!
Gareth (49) from Airth claimed the title on Sunday 19 October at the World Championship held at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield - despite fighting with a broken rib, which he sustained in a bout the day before in the under 70kg category.
Gareth, who has been working as a lecturer at Forth Valley College for the last four years and recently completed his Teaching Qualification in Further Education (TQFE), said: “It’s amazing. I was in floods of tears when the referee raised my arm in the ring as I have been on such a whirlwind journey since January to get to this point.”
It really has been a remarkable 10 months for Gareth who had drifted away from a sport he had been on the cusp of dominating in the late 1990s. He won the Scottish title back in 1997 and had secured his black belt, but a fall out with his then instructor saw him move to traditional boxing and then out of sport altogether.
He concentrated on his career as a joiner and ran his own business while having three sons and raising his family. He moved into teaching about four years ago and attained his TQFE earlier this year, but it was while out on a drive with his mate that he made the call to give kickboxing another try.
Gareth, said: “I was out the car with my friend last January and I was telling him I had weighed in at fourteen and a half stones (93kg). He made me realise that with my family, work and studying for my TQFE, I needed to find something for myself. I decided to just go back to kickboxing one day a week.”
However, Gareth is not one to do anything by halves and after six weeks his coach identified that he still had the ability and should set a goal to fight in the kickboxing Seniors events.
He went on: “I started sparring, was doing well in the ring and began to lose a lot of weight in the gym. As well as using the Stirling Campus gym regularly, I was training twice a week at Garry Shaw’s Martial Arts gym in Falkirk.
“I was encouraged to enter the Scottish International Open event at Braehead Arena in June in the under 75kg category and open weight categories. I won a silver medal and a bronze medal. At this point I realised that I was still at a decent level. By placing in this event, it qualified me for the Scottish squad which subsequently meant qualification for the World Championships as well.
“I realised however that I still needed to be lighter and started training even harder for the next three months, often twice a day. Alongside GSMA, Gareth also trained at Emerge-fit Thai gym in Grangemouth and WAMA Headhunters in Falkirk.
“On fight week, I went to Tenerife for a five day training camp at Team Vidakovics K-1 Gym during the October holiday. Along with gruelling sessions I also had to do a five day water cut to dehydrate my body to make weight. I then flew to Liverpool and travelled straight to Sheffield for the four day World Championship, where I weighed in at 63kg, so I could compete in the under 65kg category. I looked so different from what I did back in January. Many of my colleagues have been asking whether I had been ill.”
At the finals Gareth fought Dan Nguyen a 19 time world title holder and eight times European Champion on Saturday 18 October on the way to claiming a silver medal, and it was during this series of fights that he sustained a broken rib.
Then on the Sunday he fought Englishman Eddie Hoolison, himself a black belt and well respected champion. In his two, two minute round bout, Gareth beat him with a score of nine to five points awarded by three judges, to become World Champion and have the gold medal place around his neck and be able to lift the fabulous World Title belt above his head.
At the moment Gareth is resting to recover from his broken rib, but has set his sights on an invitation to the 2026 World Championship to defend his title in Delaware, USA, for which he will need to find some sponsorship. He was quick to thank all his family friends, colleagues and his students for supporting and encouraging him on his journey over the last 10 months.
Gareth, who was also recently attained a second Dan for his black belt, added: “To be honest I have amazed myself at what I have achieved. It has been humbling to see the amount of people who have messaged me to say that doing this at my age has also inspired them to work on their own goals. My colleagues and students have also been a big part of this journey – even though many of them thought I was ill or on weight loss drugs – and they have encouraged me all the way. I also can’t thank Aggie and Susanne in the Stirling Campus gym who have been encouraging me to use the facilities.
“Winning in the ring is amazing and what an amazing high it was to win and lift the gold medal and the world championship belt! Since winning I have thought about my old trainer and instructor who I drifted apart from all those years ago when I was Scottish Champion. He always said he could take me to the top level in the professional game, but due to circumstance it was not to be. I always wondered if I could have made it, winning this Seniors title has gone some way to answering that question.”
