Early Life and Career
Alexio was born and raised in Vacaville, California and was a standout athlete in his youth, excelling in American football and baseball. In an interview with Inside Karate magazine, he claimed to have turned down an offer to play baseball with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He began his martial arts training in Kajukenbo before moving on to kickboxing.
The first defeat of his career came on March 29, 1984 when he lost a decision to Don "The Dragon" Wilson in a light heavyweight bout in Wilson's home state of Florida. The fight was for the inaugural WKA full-contact super light-heavyweight (-83.2 kg) world title, and was televised on NBC's Sports World. Alexio disputed the result, however, calling it a "hometown decision" and demanding a rematch. A second bout between the pair would never come to fruition, however, as Alexio soon moved up in weight to compete as a cruiserweight and heavyweight.
Before moving up in weight class, Alexio was still able to become world champion at light heavyweight, beating Rob Salazar for the PKA World Light Heavyweight Championship in his hometown of Vacaville on September 14, 1984. By June 1987, Alexio's record consisted of 28 wins and 1 loss, and he held the KICK World Heavyweight Championship as well as the ISKA World Cruiserweight Championship.
On June 3, Alexio won a 12-round decision over Larry McFadden to retain his ISKA World Cruiserweight Championship in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. Less than a month later, he defended his KICK Heavyweight belt and also won the vacant ISKA Heavyweight title against Jeff Hollins on June 20, 1987 in Denver, Colorado.
In 1988, Alexio began being trained by Florida kickboxer turned actor Harold Diamond (aka Harold "Nature Boy" Roth). He eventually re-located to Honolulu, Hawaii and moved up to heavyweight permanently. He fought twenty times at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu, winning all twenty by knockout.
On August 6, 1990 in Lake Tahoe, Nevada, Alexio faced Canadian taekwondo fighter Darrell Henegan in a heavyweight unification fight with Alexio's ISKA and KICK titles, and Henegan's FFKA title on the line. Alexio won via technical knockout after the referee stopped the fight towards the end of the fifth round.
Read more about this topic: Dennis Alexio, Kickboxing Career
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