{"id":33135,"date":"2025-04-19T14:19:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T14:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/33135\/"},"modified":"2025-04-19T14:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T14:19:11","slug":"champion-boxer-harry-garside-opens-up-on-why-you-wont-see-him-in-a-dress-again-as-comeback-gains-momentum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/33135\/","title":{"rendered":"Champion boxer Harry Garside opens up on why you won’t see him in a dress again as comeback gains momentum"},"content":{"rendered":"

Harry Garside is no stranger to standing out in the boxing world<\/a>.\u00a0The Olympic bronze medallist, poet, and proud non-conformist made headlines for wearing nail polish, strutting in dresses and appearing on fashion runways.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But as he prepares for his professional boxing comeback on May 14, Garside says fans will see a different version of him.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old from Lilydale in Melbourne<\/a>‘s outer north-east became a household name for his performances in the ring and his fearless stance against gender<\/a> stereotypes outside it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But after a turbulent few years, Garside says he’s taken stock of what truly matters to him.<\/p>\n

‘Some of the things I was doing outside of boxing \u2013 challenging gender stereotypes, painting my nails and challenging things with fashion \u2013 it raised a few eyebrows,’ Garside told News Corp<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘But that was partially the reason I stepped away from the sport as well.’<\/p>\n

\"Harry <\/p>\n

Harry Garside has been the antithesis of the stereotypical boxer and has been unafraid to model in a dress<\/p>\n

\"Garside <\/p>\n

Garside is setting aside the disappointment of the Paris Olympics to make a comeback to the sport in the professional ranks<\/p>\n

Garside’s return to the ring comes just shy of three years since his last pro bout, when he won the Australian lightweight title in only his second professional fight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His comeback match will see him face Queensland’s Charlie Bell at Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion.<\/p>\n

‘I’m back and I couldn’t be more excited \u2013 I’m ready to chase greatness again,’ he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘The goal is simple: be the best version of myself inside and outside the ring, and become world champion.’<\/p>\n

Garside hasn’t fought professionally since turning his focus to the Paris Olympics, where he suffered a shock first-round loss to Hungary’s Richard Kovacs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The result left him questioning whether he’d ever step back into a ring.<\/p>\n

‘I was just embarrassed that I put myself out there after having success at the Tokyo Olympics,’ he said on the Mental as Anything podcast.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘There’s times it was like, ‘how embarrassing’ and that young kid is valid to feel that.’<\/p>\n

\"While <\/p>\n

While Garside embraces his personality, he said it would be shelved for the time being<\/p>\n

\"Garside <\/p>\n

Garside wants to put his sole focus on boxing and his comeback in the professional circuit<\/p>\n

The defeat was the latest setback in a rollercoaster two years that also saw him arrested in 2023 on domestic violence charges.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those charges were later dropped when police reviewed video evidence clearing his name.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His former partner, Ash Ruscoe, was instead charged, and later admitted to assault and intimidation. The ordeal left a mark on Garside, who says it forced him to grow and reflect.<\/p>\n

‘For me, boxing is a spiritual journey,’ he said.<\/p>\n

‘The feelings I get on fight night, or the week before \u2013 the nerves, the anxiety, the doubts \u2013 and then to face those head on … I really hope I can inspire people to do something that shakes them to their core, like boxing does for me.’<\/p>\n

While Garside once proudly wore dresses to make a point about masculinity, he now says that chapter has ended \u2013 at least for now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘You’ll see a different approach from me over this professional campaign \u2013 I’ll be very much focusing on getting my boxing back to a good level,’ he said.<\/p>\n

‘I’m just a curious guy and my beliefs change all the time. There’s a lot of people who don’t like a lot of the things I stand for, and I respect them too.’<\/p>\n

\"After <\/p>\n

After winning bronze at the Commonwealth Games, Garside has a hunger to take his skills to a higher level<\/p>\n

No Limit Boxing CEO George Rose says re-signing Garside was a no-brainer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Harry Garside is one of the most talented and compelling athletes in the country \u2013 and we’re absolutely thrilled to have him back,’ he said. ‘There’s only one Harry.’<\/p>\n

Despite his unique image, legendary trainer Johnny Lewis once called him ‘the real deal’.<\/p>\n

The son of a roof tiler, Garside says his work ethic comes from watching his father head out the door before sunrise. ‘I saw that and I saw the meaning of hard work,’ he said.<\/p>\n

His desire to break stereotypes began after a Reach Foundation workshop in school. ‘These people show up to school and they’re wearing the most unique, strange clothes\u2026that’s probably the first inspiration,’ he said.<\/p>\n

Though he once embraced the spotlight with flamboyant fashion, Garside now says his focus is fully back on boxing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘You’re gonna have people who love you and people who hate you, and that’s just a part of being human. And I like that.’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Harry Garside is no stranger to standing out in the boxing world.\u00a0The Olympic bronze medallist, poet, and proud…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33136,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4108],"tags":[1935,92,2190,1464,13691,93,79,1862,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-33135","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-hungary","11":"tag-melbourne","12":"tag-queensland","13":"tag-sport","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-sydney","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114365069295712551","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}