Harry Garside’s return to professional boxing has prompted a past rival to speak up and he wants revenge
Following his Paris heartbreak, Harry Garside will make his professional boxing return in May, but already a former rival who’s Olympic dream he crushed, wants to settle a score.
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Australian boxing has its newest feud, with returning Olympian Harry Garside hitting out at “disrespectful” Ahmed Reda, saying he’ll never fight the rising star unless “he has something I want.”
Garside makes his return to professional boxing on May 14 in the co-main event bout of Sam Goodman’s world title eliminator at the Hordern Pavilion.
The fight will be three years – nearly to the day – since his last professional fight, with the Sydney-based Melburnian turning his back on the paid ranks in 2022 to chase his Olympic dreams.
The 5-0 Reda is a rising star and will feature on the same May 14 card.
Garside scored a points decision over Reda in the Olympic trials in Perth ahead of the Paris Games, and Reda has been intent on revenge ever since.
He even made back page headlines in The Daily Telegraph when he called out Garside just days after his heartbreaking first round loss in Paris last year, and continued his pursuit on Wednesday.
“There’s a lot of cats in this sport, and I’m gonna get rid of them one-by-one,” Reda said of Garside, who fights Queensland’s Charlie Bell (5-1).
“He crushed my Olympic dream. He came back from the pros, back to the amateurs and crushed my Olympic dream.
“I want to get one back on him, it only makes sense. If he wants to fight, we can fight.
“I don’t know why he’s fighting this Queenslander. You’re getting him over from Queensland, will have to get him flights, accommodation, this and that.
“I’m right here, let’s get it on.”
The 3-0 Garside immediately shut down any prospect of fighting Reda though.
“My goals are clear for the next six months, and that’s really focusing on getting my boxing ability back to a good level, then, over the next three or four years, focusing on trying to win a world title,” Garside told Code Sports.
“If Ahmed wins something that I want, then absolutely we’ll fight.
“But until he wins something I want, I don’t even want to entertain that.
“He’s shown some disrespect.
“He’s an exceptional athlete, Ahmed, a really exceptional athlete. And if he wins something I want, we’ll fight.
“Until then, he’s not going to get a leg up in his career on the back of my name.
“I don’t need that.”
Instead, Garside doubled down on his goal of winning a world title within the next four years.
“Ideally around 30, 31, I’ll be at that level – fighting for world titles, or at least at that level,” he said. “But the next six months is just about getting my boxing ability back to a good level.
“Having so long out of the ring, and even in 2023 and 2024, I feel like my boxing ability did go backwards a little bit.
“So I just need to focus on getting myself back to an elite level, and then looking to go overseas.”
‘Chase greatness’: Garside to return after ‘embarrassing’ Games defeat
Harry Garside didn’t step in a boxing gym for two months following his heartbreaking loss at the Paris Olympics last year.
He describes the first-round unanimous decision defeat to Hungary’s Richard Kovacs as “embarrassing” and didn’t know whether he’d ever want to fight again.
But the man who describes boxing is a “spiritual journey” couldn’t stay away for long, and will make his long-awaited comeback in the co-main event to Sam Goodman’s world title eliminator at Hordern Pavilion on May 14.
The fight will take place just three days shy of the three-year anniversary of his last professional bout – an Australian lightweight title win over Layton McFerran in Newcastle.
Following his extended time out of the pro ranks, Garside has re-signed a promotional agreement with No Limit, and will fight Queensland’s Charlie Bell (5-1) at lightweight.
“I’m back and I couldn’t be more excited – I’m ready to chase greatness again,” Garside said. “I’ve taken time to reflect, grow and reset.
“The goal is simple: be the best version of myself inside and outside the ring, and become world champion.”
A Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist, Garside won the Australian lightweight title in just his second pro bout in 2022.
But after taking a break from the paid ranks to improve on his bronze medal in Tokyo, he suffered a painful unanimous decision defeat in the first round in Paris against Hungary’s Richard Kovacs last year.
“I was just embarrassed that I put myself out there after having success at the Tokyo Olympics,” Garside said on the Mental as Anything Podcast last week.
“I’m just trying to hold that young kid. There’s times it was like, ‘how embarrassing’ and that young kid is valid to feel that.”
Question marks hung over his future in the sport for months, before he eventually returned to the gym late last year.
“Harry Garside is one of the most talented and compelling athletes in the country – and we’re absolutely thrilled to have him back where he belongs,” No Limit CEO George Rose said. “There’s only one Harry.
“He’s an Olympic hero, a proven pro, and someone who connects with fans like few others can.
“This is a massive moment for Aussie boxing – and it’s just the beginning.
“We’ve got big plans for Harry and can’t wait to show the world what’s next.”
It had already been a tumultuous few years for Garside prior to his Paris nightmare.
In early 2023, he was arrested on domestic violence charges, which he strenuously denied.
Those charges were eventually withdrawn when Garside gave police video evidence showing his former partner Ash Ruscoe was the aggressor.
Ruscoe was then hit with the same charges, eventually admitting to common assault and intimidation over the incident at the former glamour couple’s Eastern Suburbs residence in March 2023.
She was placed on a 12-month conditional release order in December. No conviction was recorded, but Ruscoe is subject to a two-year apprehended violence order, prohibiting her from approaching, contacting or trying to find Garside.
At the top of the May 14 card, Goodman just needs to beat Mexico’s Cesar Vaca (19-1-1) to book a long-awaited super-bantamweight world title shot later in the year.
Vaca is a sparring partner of Japanese phenom Naoya Inoue, who Goodman is desperate to dislodge as world champion.
The card will also see the return of Garside’s Tokyo Olympics teammate Paulo Aokuso (8-0), who has linked up with No Limit after leaving the promoter in 2023.
The 8-1 fighting phenom Mounir Fathi takes on rugged veteran Wade Ryan in a super-welterweight clash, while Australian heavyweight champion Stevan Ivic defends his title against Toese Vousiutu.
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