Professional Boxer Gareth Stemp
As an amateur Gareth Stemp was a hard working, diligent boxer who never shied away from anything and I don’t think anything has changed over the years.
Gareth was born on the 16th of August 1984, his fighting weight is bantamweight but has to concede weight in order the get fights, and John McCarron is his trainer.
He grew up with fellow pro Stephen Simmons, I asked him how he got into boxing he said “I started getting picked on at school and took to boxing straight away”. Gareth was 15 years old when he had his first fight and turned senior at 17.
He had a brief apprenticeship as a plumber but getting into trouble more often than not led him to join the British Army as a 17 year old, he had a successful boxing career in the Army.
Gareth had a passion for football but due to too many injuries mainly ligament damage to his knee meant a career in football was out of the question but he still trains a football team on a Sunday.
He is a full time professional boxer and a lot of credit goes to Trademark Recruitment Agency for financially backing Gareth to fulfil his ambition and ply his trade as a pro boxer.
His record stands at 4 fights 2 wins and 2 losses, in preparation for his last fight he said “it was a bit of a nightmare, 5 different opponents were pencilled in and a super bantamweight pulled out the week of the fight, he hurt himself in sparring and the opponent Barrington Brown was finally arranged. His trainer John McCarron pleaded with him not to take the fight, Brown had 10 wins and 8 losses and it turned out the heavier man Brown was in training to fight for the British Masters Title but the occasion got to Gareth – the thought of fighting in Edinburgh in front of his home fans was too overbearing to turn down, he never knew much about Brown but had trained hard, sparring with Jonathan Slowey whom he had shared rooms with on international duty, Ronnie Clark and Ryan McCutcheon who just beat the Scottish Champion at flyweight, Gareth said “Ryan possesses good technical ability “.
Last fight 8th December 2012 at Meadowbank, Opponent – Barrington Brown
Gareth says;
1st round “I thought I done really well, noticed the boy had power cause my head was ringing a wee bit when he did catch me, liked to mix his punches, he was fast and tricky and had good movement but I was in control and was confident I won the round”
2nd round “It started the same way I was still in control, he caught me a decent shot to the body but it did not stop me then he caught me with a low blow below the belt, I naturally bent over and out of instinct went on one knee, I fully expected the referee to acknowledge this and give me a wee chance to recover and continue – in the rules of boxing if there has been a low blow the boxer can receive up to 5 minutes to recover, the referee didn’t credit the punch as a low blow and I got up to my feet almost immediately and he started giving me a count, I continued fighting, at the end of the round my trainer asked if I wanted to retire due to the ribs that were visibly poking out my side”
3rd round “I was still in control but my opponent knew I was hurt, this gave him the upper-hand and I lost the round”
4th round “Lost this also but in the last minute I hit him with a few good combinations, after the fight Brown told me I did hit him with some powerful shots”.
“A couple of days later I went to hospital, I broke 3 ribs in that second round and have been on pain killers and told to rest, but, this had nothing to do with the low blow, I think everyone who was at the fight knew I was hit with a low blow apart from the referee and the reporter Tom Walker”.
“The one thing about mixing it with heavier boxers is the knowledge that someone your own weight won’t hit you as hard”.
Gareth would love to box in Edinburgh again; it’s been four years since he won his last Scottish title there under the guidance of former amateur coach Bradley Welsh who mentored him to many titles.
As a pro Gareth fought in Glasgow against local lad Paul McElhaney and had to be escorted to the ring and back the crowd jeered him all the way, so to fight again on home soil would be a dream come true, that’s why Gareth went that extra mile carrying broken ribs from the second round because he did not want to let his fans down.
What have you got planned in the next 5 years Gareth? I’d like to win a British Title – I fought Olympic Gold Medal winner Luke Campbell as an amateur and lost 7-4, I’m confident in my ability, however, there’s not a lot of guys out there at my weight available to fight me.
Gareth trains twice a day 6 days a week and coaches football on a Sunday. His routine comprises of distance running and sprints, he has to go through the west to get good sparring cause there’s not many at his weight locally, he used to train with Paul Weir and sparred with Ronnie Clark and but the travel expenses were costing too much, he has had 6 weeks off due to the injury but is itching to get back in the gym.
Gareth has a wee girl Jessica and a boy called Carter – he got that name from his favourite boxing film The Hurricane, after Rubin Carter – he would love his son to box, and his favourite Rocky film is Rocky 2.
In a wee message to the fans Gareth would like to thank everyone for their support and to get behind Scottish Boxing and again thanks to Trademark for making this possible.
By Raymond Fraser Buchanan
As an amateur Gareth Stemp was a hard working, diligent boxer who never shied away from anything and I don’t think anything has changed over the years.
Gareth was born on the 16th of August 1984, his fighting weight is bantamweight but has to concede weight in order the get fights, and John McCarron is his trainer.
He grew up with fellow pro Stephen Simmons, I asked him how he got into boxing he said “I started getting picked on at school and took to boxing straight away”. Gareth was 15 years old when he had his first fight and turned senior at 17.
He had a brief apprenticeship as a plumber but getting into trouble more often than not led him to join the British Army as a 17 year old, he had a successful boxing career in the Army.
Gareth had a passion for football but due to too many injuries mainly ligament damage to his knee meant a career in football was out of the question but he still trains a football team on a Sunday.
He is a full time professional boxer and a lot of credit goes to Trademark Recruitment Agency for financially backing Gareth to fulfil his ambition and ply his trade as a pro boxer.
His record stands at 4 fights 2 wins and 2 losses, in preparation for his last fight he said “it was a bit of a nightmare, 5 different opponents were pencilled in and a super bantamweight pulled out the week of the fight, he hurt himself in sparring and the opponent Barrington Brown was finally arranged. His trainer John McCarron pleaded with him not to take the fight, Brown had 10 wins and 8 losses and it turned out the heavier man Brown was in training to fight for the British Masters Title but the occasion got to Gareth – the thought of fighting in Edinburgh in front of his home fans was too overbearing to turn down, he never knew much about Brown but had trained hard, sparring with Jonathan Slowey whom he had shared rooms with on international duty, Ronnie Clark and Ryan McCutcheon who just beat the Scottish Champion at flyweight, Gareth said “Ryan possesses good technical ability “.
Last fight 8th December 2012 at Meadowbank, Opponent – Barrington Brown
Gareth says;
1st round “I thought I done really well, noticed the boy had power cause my head was ringing a wee bit when he did catch me, liked to mix his punches, he was fast and tricky and had good movement but I was in control and was confident I won the round”
2nd round “It started the same way I was still in control, he caught me a decent shot to the body but it did not stop me then he caught me with a low blow below the belt, I naturally bent over and out of instinct went on one knee, I fully expected the referee to acknowledge this and give me a wee chance to recover and continue – in the rules of boxing if there has been a low blow the boxer can receive up to 5 minutes to recover, the referee didn’t credit the punch as a low blow and I got up to my feet almost immediately and he started giving me a count, I continued fighting, at the end of the round my trainer asked if I wanted to retire due to the ribs that were visibly poking out my side”
3rd round “I was still in control but my opponent knew I was hurt, this gave him the upper-hand and I lost the round”
4th round “Lost this also but in the last minute I hit him with a few good combinations, after the fight Brown told me I did hit him with some powerful shots”.
“A couple of days later I went to hospital, I broke 3 ribs in that second round and have been on pain killers and told to rest, but, this had nothing to do with the low blow, I think everyone who was at the fight knew I was hit with a low blow apart from the referee and the reporter Tom Walker”.
“The one thing about mixing it with heavier boxers is the knowledge that someone your own weight won’t hit you as hard”.
Gareth would love to box in Edinburgh again; it’s been four years since he won his last Scottish title there under the guidance of former amateur coach Bradley Welsh who mentored him to many titles.
As a pro Gareth fought in Glasgow against local lad Paul McElhaney and had to be escorted to the ring and back the crowd jeered him all the way, so to fight again on home soil would be a dream come true, that’s why Gareth went that extra mile carrying broken ribs from the second round because he did not want to let his fans down.
What have you got planned in the next 5 years Gareth? I’d like to win a British Title – I fought Olympic Gold Medal winner Luke Campbell as an amateur and lost 7-4, I’m confident in my ability, however, there’s not a lot of guys out there at my weight available to fight me.
Gareth trains twice a day 6 days a week and coaches football on a Sunday. His routine comprises of distance running and sprints, he has to go through the west to get good sparring cause there’s not many at his weight locally, he used to train with Paul Weir and sparred with Ronnie Clark and but the travel expenses were costing too much, he has had 6 weeks off due to the injury but is itching to get back in the gym.
Gareth has a wee girl Jessica and a boy called Carter – he got that name from his favourite boxing film The Hurricane, after Rubin Carter – he would love his son to box, and his favourite Rocky film is Rocky 2.
In a wee message to the fans Gareth would like to thank everyone for their support and to get behind Scottish Boxing and again thanks to Trademark for making this possible.
By Raymond Fraser Buchanan
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