Why Harry Garside might walk away from boxing forever – and the shock new sport the Olympic bronze medal winner is taking up

Australian boxer Harry Garside has revealed that he might walk away from boxing altogether as he opens up about the new sport he will be competing in over the summer.

Garside’s two-year dream of winning gold in Paris was ripped from his hands in a devastating blow last month.

He lost his first fight in the men’s 63.5kg class to Hungary’s Richard Kovacs by unanimous decision after bringing home bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The 27-year-old broke down in tears after the crushing loss, revealing he ‘felt like a failure’ and indicated that the ‘next month or two’ would be ‘quite challenging’.

Garside managed to pick himself up after the defeat and has since launched a book ‘The Good Fight’ which he spilled details about on Nova FM‘s Fitzy and Wippa breakfast show.

When asked what his plans were following the Olympics, Garside indicated that he’s staying busy. 

‘Just keep fitter…the decisions I made when I failed were negative, and I’m just trying my best to do more positive things,’ he revealed. 

‘So I’m training every day. I’m staying fit. I want to do some triathlons over summer. I love boxing, so I’ll always continue boxing, not sure professionally and I don’t know about the next Olympics. 

Harry Garside says his future is up in the air after his shock defeat at the Paris Games

Garside was emotional following his loss to Hungary’s Richard Kovacs in his first fight in Paris

‘I might walk away altogether… I will continue doing it until I lose a love for it.’

The former plumber last month revealed that he’s also found love unexpectedly.  

‘I woke up on New Years Day and I said to myself ‘big year… no relationships, just focus on winning the Gold Medal,’ he said.

‘Throughout that process I actually fell in love…so it happened so unexpectedly which I think is the best kind of love…when you’re not searching for it but it just stumbled into my life. 

‘She’s originally from Sydney, but she is currently living in London, so I am pretty excited for her to get back at the end of the year…. she’s definitely worth the wait.’

The Victorian pugilist also opened up about why he has chased success in boxing. 

The Victorian pugilist says he is still training every day and keeping as fit as he can

‘I guess the more that I think about myself and why I wanted success was because I felt like I was nothing,’ he said.

‘I don’t know where it stems from, and there’s probably a number of memories that I could probably think of, but most of my life I thought that it’s like, these Gold medals, winning at sport was going to change those beliefs about myself, and they kind of did, I guess, throughout the journey. 

‘But I won the Commonwealth Games Gold Medal and I sat in my room after and I felt miserable. 

‘I won the Bronze Medal at Tokyo, and I sat in quarantine, I looked in the mirror with the medal hanging on my neck and I still did that all but still didn’t like myself.’