Olympic boxer Harry Garside on family, failure and his drive to be the best

Olympic boxer Harry Garside has two dreams: to win world titles in the ring and to keep challenging himself and others — and he’s making it happen one fight at a time.

The morning after boxer Harry Garside won the 2018 Commonwealth Games featherweight title at the age of 21, he woke up and changed his phone background to Tokyo 2020.

He’s always looking ahead to the next fight, and the one after that. He’s preparing for that next one right now, physically and mentally.

On Wednesday, April 6, Garside will fight Manuer Matet for the Australian lightweight title at the Hordern Pavilion, and for Garside, victory is the only option.

“It’s always what’s next and it’s a great attitude to have. I always want to be chasing the next win,” he tells Sydney Weekend between training sessions.

“For me, it’s really focused on this fight and make sure I win it. And then I want to go global.

“I want to win world titles in the next two or three years, and I want to be one of the best boxers Australia has ever produced, so I’ll take it one fight at a time to get there.”

Olympic boxer Harry Garside continues to challenge himself. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

He’s only 24, but Garside already has more than 15 years experience under his belt. And while he did indeed take a bronze medal home from those Tokyo Olympic Games, he regards his campaign as a failure.

“When I was younger, I failed at winning the Victorian state title and I really struggled with that,” he says.

“At that point when I was 13, I’m thinking if I can win the Victorian title, I’ll be so happy and then it’s when I win the Australian title, I’ll be happy.

“It’s always just levelling up every time.

“At the Olympics, the bronze medal to me was a failure. And it’s like when I win that gold medal, I’ll be happy and after I win that gold medal, it’s what’s next and when I win that world title, I will be happy.

“Every time I reach something, I’m just setting the bar higher.

“And it sounds so cheesy, but the sky is genuinely the limit. I truly believe that.”

Harry Garside won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. Picture: Buda Mendes/Getty

The ‘underdog’

It is that faith in himself, that hunger to be the best, that stirs something in Garside.

He started boxing when he was nine, and if he’s honest, he only did it because he wanted to be tough and strong like his two brothers.

Because really, he wasn’t like them at all.

He joined the Lilydale Youth Club, not far from where he grew up in Melbourne, and it soon became his second home. It didn’t come easy though. He lost 10 of his first 18 fights. But he harnessed the underdog mentality, the losses only motivating him to train harder.

“I’m the youngest of three boys and growing up my brothers were really blokey,” he says.

“They were always playing with power tools or doing the things that Dad was doing and I am absolutely nothing like them.

Harry Garside in 2015. Picture: Paul Loughnan

“I was a lot closer to my mum and her energy and what she was doing. My mum would say go outside and play with your brothers, but I didn’t really want to.

“Because of that, I felt that I didn’t get much respect from my brothers and as well, my dad.

“They never once vocalised that, but I felt it, and I think I initially started boxing because back then it was a manly sport and a manly thing to do was be in combat. I started it and I fell in love with it instantly.

“I definitely didn’t think that the young timid boy would start boxing and love it, but I did.”

Family challenges

Garside’s family life feels complicated, but it’s made him who he is.

One of his older brothers will be ringside on April 6. The other will, he hopes, be watching the fight from jail. Struggling mentally with addiction issues, it’s the eighth time he’s been locked up.

“My brother Jack will be (at the fight), he’s like my best mate. The other one is in prison. I don’t know if he will be able to watch, but I speak to him probably once every three or four weeks,” he says.

“He’s doing OK and I hope he gets out soon.

“If I get completely honest with you, they love me, both of them, I know that, but I feel, and I’ve never verbalised this, I don’t want to say jealousy, but there’s something there.

Harry Garside (right) took on Andy Cruz of Cuba in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Picture: Adam Head

“They love me, they support me, but there has been a bit of,” he pauses, “a family member is getting a bit of limelight and they see this persona, they have grown up with me, they know exactly what I’m like.

“In the world we live in now, everyone puts their highlight reels up on social media, but every single family that I’ve ever been close to has got issues or a problem.

“It’s the beautiful thing about life. It’s tough, it’s challenging, but it makes you really bond when you get through it.

“Although my family has definitely had a lot of challenges, we’re really close and we’ve always got each other’s back and I’m grateful that my parents have really made that and cultivated that.”

Love of boxing

It was the structure, discipline and training of boxing that made Garside fall in love with the sport that changed his life. That, and his lifelong coach Brian Levier.

“And that fear you have before getting into a boxing ring, you really grow from that,” he says.

“I’ve been with Brian since I was nine and he’s still my coach. He fed me a lot of love and every kid wants to feel special, so he’s a massive reason why I kept going back as well.

“When I was growing up my mum didn’t want me to start boxing (in case I got hurt) but it’s funny because if you speak to her now, she’s the proudest mum ever and she’s the loudest one in the crowd.”

Harry Garside developed a love of boxing when he was a child. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Qualified as a plumber, Garside loves pushing back stereotypes.

He does ballet, reads every night and wore nail polish during the Olympics in a bid to defy gender stereotypes.

Now living in Bellevue Hill, he first met partner Ashley Ruscoe, a boxer herself and former Amazing Race contestant, on the Gold Coast last June. It was a few months after he “slid into her DMs” while following her posts about boxing on Instagram.

“Ash being a boxer and teaching boxing I found her page really interesting,” he says.

“I don’t know if this stems from a bit of an inferiority complex, but I really struggle to teach boxing. I always feel like I’m still learning, so I feel like a student myself.

“Ash is a lot better at guiding.”

That really must be his inferiority complex talking because Ruscoe says he’s a great teacher and he will often hold pads for her when they train together.

Power of cold showers

Garside has had years of experience preparing for fights so going into this one doesn’t feel like a massive stress. He is very comfortable in this space. He’s been here his whole life. But in the weeks leading up to a fight, he focuses on himself, making sure he’s supported mentally as well as physically.

“So I do things such as every day, I read a chapter of a book,” he says.

“It’s just like making a commitment to yourself.

“And it can be anything – like I haven’t had a warm shower this whole year. It’s getting harder and harder too,” he laughs.

Harry Garside and his partner Ashley Ruscoe at the Woolloomooloo PCYC. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

The couple, who both are boxers, often work out together. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

The scientific benefits of a cold shower in the morning aside, essentially, such habits reaffirm Garside’s philosophy on life – that when he says he is going to do something, he does it.

“It’s saying I’m going to do something that I don’t want to do, something that’s uncomfortable, because the places that you get the most growth are the places you’re most uncomfortable,” he says.

“So every morning I think ‘I don’t want to do this’ but once I do it, I’ve achieved something already, before 7am.”

Ruscoe is like him in that way. She’s done combat since she was five years old, and says it helped her understand her own limits more and beat them.

“I started kickboxing when I was younger, but I just really loved how combat kickboxing made me feel,” she says.

“I felt really powerful. I always had like a cool sort of fire in my belly that I just wanted to be equal to the boys. And kickboxing gave me that.”

Her passion lit another fire inside her, to empower other females to feel the same. So she started her boxing coaching and group fitness business, Hit Like A Girl.

“The philosophy behind it is just to empower other people, mostly women,” Ruscoe says.

“I went through a period in my life with an ex-partner where I was exposed to domestic violence, and I think that was sort of the catalyst.

“I guess if you go through any type of adversity like that, it spurs you on to share how you feel, how you get better afterwards. So I felt really empowered when I went back into boxing and I wanted to share that.”

Ashley Ruscoe runs her own boxing coaching and group fitness business, Hit Like A Girl. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

That’s something else Garside relates to.

His dream is to open a free gym in an underprivileged area and help youngsters find their passion.

“I don’t only care about making good bodies. I want to try my best to make good humans,” he says.

“Another one of my life goals is to have a combat sport – not boxing because of head trauma but maybe jiu-jitsu, wrestling, judo – integrated into the school system.

“I really think if we do that, the world would be a completely different place and our youth would feel a lot more self-love, self-confidence, learn respect, discipline, structure and some things that I feel like our youth may be missing at the moment.

“It gave me a lot of self-confidence and self-awareness, and some really valuable life lessons.

“I talk to myself a lot more kindly because of doing this sport and I just really think our young people need something like that.

“What I have realised is every human on an individual level is so unique, and so different, strange, beautiful and (we need to) allow ourselves to actually be what we want to be, instead of playing a role that society wants us to.

“We’re all so different and I hope a young person might try something that their family or friends isn’t doing, something that they actually want to do, that is their calling.”

Challenging himself

To push themselves, the pair do monthly challenges together that force them out of their comfort zones.

Garside has done ballet. He learned to hold his breath for 2½ minutes. He apologised to someone. Did 13 hours straight on a bike. And their latest? An improv class.

“With each challenge, I learn something new about myself, and I view the world differently,” he says.

“One of the hardest ones was public reading, because I always really struggled to read properly.

“I remember being in school and the teacher was like ‘Harry, you’re reading next’ and the fear that went over my body was almost unbearable.

Garside sees his bronze Olympic medal as a failure. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Garside is already looking to his next title. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

“So when I did public reading I was 21 and I walked into a room and there were like 60 guys and I just opened a page of a book and I read it aloud. I screwed up a few times and I was sweaty and nervous but the feeling after I completed that was truly amazing.”

Just a week out from the big fight, he’s deep in prep mode. He hasn’t had any alcohol for more than 12 weeks – he didn’t drink for six months before the Olympics – and he trains in 90 minute sessions twice a day, also fitting in recovery and mindset work.

He’s on a strict diet of carbs, protein and fresh fruit and vegies, and has to lose 4kg before the fight. Which he will.

“It’s a full-time job and I have Sundays off,” he says.

“It’s busy, but I absolutely love every second of it.

“I’m really proud of myself, to be honest. I’ve worked really hard to this point, and I just want to show up on April 6 and really make sure that I’m the best version of myself getting in there.”

Living the dream

Despite all the training, the moment he steps into the ring is a very confronting one.

“It’s the most vulnerable, natural stage we can be in, as the animals that we are. And I feel like back when we were more hunters and gatherers, we were always going into combat, always fighting, so it feels so natural,” he says.

Garside defeats Sachin Mudaliar in December 2021. Picture: Jeremy Piper

“But it’s also fearful, it’s scary. It feels like it’s life or death.

“It makes you feel super alive and I can feel everything. I’m so conscious of my heartbeat, so conscious of my breath, of my stomach turning and my muscles aching. At the same time, I’m really confident and I’ve prepared well.

“If you look at the best athletes in the world – Serena Williams, Kelly Slater, Michael Jordan, LeBron James – when you watch them play, they’re not thinking, they’re just doing what they’re best at. That’s what I try to do.

“I don’t try to complicate it. I just try and get in there and believe in myself and know that I’m capable of winning.”

You might think that with seven national boxing championships to his name that would be enough, but in Garside’s mind, this stage of his life is just the pre-fight show.

“I want to go to America or England and win the world title and then I want to bring it back to home in Australia,” he says.

“I love this country with all my heart. I’m so patriotic. I want to pack out stadiums here. That’s the dream.

“This is only the start.”

Originally published as Olympic boxer Harry Garside on family, failure and his drive to be the best