Dexter Jackson Before He Became the Record-Breaker
Dexter Jackson
Before He Became the Record-Breaker
THE RECORD-BREAKER
Last Saturday (March 14th) Dexter Jackson, at 240 pounds, won the Arnold Australia and broke another record in his history-making career. By virtue of his down under exploits he has now competed in more pro contest, 73, than any other competitor. (Milos Sarcev and Chris Cormier are next on 72 each.) In those 73 contests he has attained an astonishing 66 top five placings. A week earlier he had broken another record by winning his fifth Arnold Classic title. The Australian event represented his 22nd pro victory, making him equal on wins with Vince Taylor and three behind Ronnie Coleman. 2015 is his 17th season as a pro putting him ahead of previous record holder Al Beckles who competed through 16 seasons. By winning the Dubai Pro last October he became at 44 years and 11 months of age the second oldest winner of a pro contest: Al Beckles was 52 when he won the 1991 Niagara Pro.
And other records just cascade forth. He won the Olympia at his ninth attempt, the longest wait to winning of any Mr. Olympia. Next closest was Jay Cutler who won the Olympia at his sixth attempt. He is the only man to have won a Mr. Olympia title (2008) and the Masters Olympia (2012). He is still competing nearly seven years after he won the 2008 Olympia, the longest continuous career continuation of any other previous Mr. Olympia. Although having no official validation a solid observation is that in contrast to other competitors with long careers (for instance, Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler, Chris Cormier and Milos Sarcev) Dexter Jackson’s physique has not faded as he got older. Indeed he’s maybe now as good as he’s ever been. So where did it all start for this phenomenon? How did a 135 pound bantamweight become a 240 pound 22-time pro champion?
EARLY DAYS
Dexter Tyrone Jackson was born on November 25, 1969 in Jacksonville, Florida, which has been his home ever since. He confides, “I’m a Florida boy. I’ve never had the urge to relocate elsewhere although I do have a small apartment in Venice, California, which I stay for my 14 week contest prep so I can train with Charles Glass at Gold’s Gym.”
He states he had a “good childhood”, he and his three brothers and three sisters being brought up by stable parents. “We are a close-knit family and stick by each other through thick and thin. We were all into sports and fiercely competitive. I did football, baseball, track, martial arts and gymnastics. I had a wiry build, very lean but defined even before I touched a weight.”
His introduction to weights came at age 21,when he accompanied an elder brother to the gym. Immediately some members told him he should think about competing. He laughed it off, “Nah, no way I’m gonna get up there in my draws.”
Eventually he went to a local contest and, “The place was packed, everybody screaming. Particularly the girls screaming at the fellas. I thought, I want me some of that.”
Three months later he had “some of that” when with 135 pounds distributed on his 5’6 ½” frame he entered the 1991 The Jax Physique Championships and won the bantamweight division and the overall, remarkably beating the heavyweight winner. Despite such an impressive start, he says, “At that time I didn’t have any real ambitions to make a career out of bodybuilding. I though I’d just be doing regional shows. I never thought I’d have a future as a pro until I won the ‘95 USA.” One man who had the foresight to know the Floridian had a future was MD’s driving force Steve Blechman who saw Dexter as a bantamweight over 20 years ago and told him, “You will be a pro one day.” Pretty remarkable.
1995: A HIGH AND A LOW
1995 was a pivotal year as having won the light heavyweight division at the aforementioned USA’s in June he went forward as a favorite to win the Nationals in New Orleans in September, and hence his pro card. As he stood backstage with the rest of the light heavyweight entrants waiting to see who had made the top 15 cut the NPC USA champ was confident his number would be called. The call never came. He remembers, “I must have looked at my number 100 times waiting for it to change to one of the numbers called.” Course it never happened and his omission stunned not only him it mystified most experienced observers. To this day I am convinced there was some honest mix-up over numbers.
After the debacle at the 1995 Nationals Jackson regrouped to finish as sixth light heavyweight at the 1996 Nationals in which future rival Jay Cutler won the heavyweight division. Disappointed he targeted the 1998 North America Championships where an overall win would earn an IFBB pro card. “I put everything into that contest,” he confirms, “I had a good job working in Publix (a major grocery chain) distribution warehouse and I said to myself, ‘If I win I ain’t going back.’”
Well, virtue of his overall win at that contest he didn’t go back -- don’t worry, Publix survived. That being said the unique pro career of Dexter Jackson had just taken the first step that would lead a decade later to climbing atop the Olympia hill.
THE PRO ROAD
Truth be told when Dexter Jackson first joined the IFBB pro ranks he wasn’t seen as a future Mr. Olympia and in fact his path to that lofty perch was longer than any of his fellow Sandow winners. In his pro debut at the 1999 Arnold Classic he was seventh, and six months later ninth in his first Olympia; a placing he duplicated a year later. In the 2001 Olympia he moved up a notch to eighth. In 2002 he started to raise a few eyebrows in the manner of a Hollywood beautician when he was fourth at the Olympia and gained his first pro victory at that year’s English Grand Prix. Then came his breakout year of 2003 where he finished third at the Olympia and a few weeks later won the Show of Strength, relegating Olympia runner-up Jay Cutler to second place.
It was at that 2003 Olympia that a 287 pound Ronnie Coleman re-wrote the size manual. Still this scribe felt compelled to write of Jackson, “[He was] The deepest and hardest detailed guy in the contest, he was a revelation. His serratus shot nearly cut the heads off those seated front and center. He really was the complete package this time around -- his high lats were perhaps the only drawback. In another time (a future time?) he may win the Olympia.”
Well, in another time –2008 to be exact- Dexter Jackson did win the Olympia by dethroning his longtime nemesis Jay Cutler, and seven years later he’s still competing and winning. I truly feel that in terms of longevity and excellence his career and record will never be equaled.
DISCUSS THIS ARTICLE ON THE MD FORUM
WATCH DEXTER'S FACE 2 FACE INTERVIEW WITH PETER