{"id":352157,"date":"2023-12-06T23:23:39","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T00:23:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=352157"},"modified":"2023-12-07T01:01:30","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T01:01:30","slug":"mundines-truth-as-show-biz-pushes-garside-away","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=352157","title":{"rendered":"Mundine's truth as 'show biz' pushes Garside away"},"content":{"rendered":"

As Tyson Fury<\/a> unloaded on Oleksandr Usyk<\/a> a couple of weeks ago, calling his rival a "sausage", an "ugly little man" and a "rabbit"<\/a>, Harry Garside<\/a> and a host of other amateur boxers did little more than train and rest on repeat, fine-tuning for the Pacific Games with no appetite for talking trash.<\/p>\n

Garside admitted last week to struggling with the pressure brought about by promotion, looking back on his brief foray into the money-driven world of professional boxing and revealing he "found that quite hard".<\/p>\n

Driving the 26-year-old en route to Paris 2024<\/a> is a desire to become Australia's first Olympic Games<\/a> gold medallist in boxing, a dream that came about when he saw Australian swimming great Grant Hackett win gold in the men's 1500m at Athens 2004.<\/p>\n

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But Garside, the 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist shaking up boxing with cross-dressing and philosophical monologues posted to Instagram, is also drawn to the amateur game because he doesn't have to sell fights.<\/p>\n

"I'm not much of a trash-talker\ufeff; I'm too nice," Garside said with a laugh on SEN radio.<\/p>\n

"I get it; it's all show biz, it's almost like the WWE, the fake wrestling, you've almost got to sell it a little bit so people get entertained.<\/p>\n

\"Harry<\/p>\n

"I'll fight anyone and I'd love to get in there with anyone, win, lose or draw, but I'm not going to sit there before a fight and disrespect a man. That's just not in my nature. I found it personally really hard, but also that's just part of the game. But I will never lower my standards and never trash-talk someone.<\/p>\n

"I'll still get in there, though, and punch their head in."<\/p>\n

Wide World of Sports has gathered the views of several past and current professional and amateur boxers on the back of Garside's comments, getting in contact with Anthony Mundine<\/a>, Issac Hardman<\/a>, Liam Paro<\/a>, Alex Winwood and Shelley Watts.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"\ufeffYou think of Harry Garside, who's an amazing person and really philosophical with the way that he speaks … He can't turn around and go and call someone a disgusting, terrible name to sell some tickets. That's not in his character," said Watts, who won Commonwealth Games gold at Glasgow 2014 and contested the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

\"Shelley<\/p>\n

The retired amateur never felt enticed by professional boxing.<\/p>\n

"You've got to sell tickets and that just doesn't interest me. I remember being told once that you go into professional boxing for one of two reasons; you either go in because you want to be a world champion and you want a belt, or you go in to try to make money.\ufeff Neither of those things interested me," Watts said.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffOnce I knew that was a possibility for women [competing in boxing at the Olympic Games], and once I got into the Commonwealth Games and won that, I was like, 'I'm going to the Olympic Games and I'm going to do everything I can'. Everything else in life got put on hold. I was studying a law degree and that just got put on hold … because you have to put your heart and soul into it and your whole entire life, and that's what I chose to do."<\/p>\n

There's never been a better trash-talker in Australian boxing than Mundine, the former Dragons and Broncos entertainment machine who swapped his footy boots for the gloves in 2000.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"\ufeffGrowing up when I was a kid, competing against all my family, cousins, friends, I wanted to be the best at everything, you know what I mean? No matter if it was playing marbles, playing tips, I wanted to be the best," Mundine said.<\/p>\n

\"Anthony<\/p>\n

"You get into a verbal match and you want to win the game mentally before the fight. A lot of the times I did.<\/p>\n

"Just look at the Marc Bargero fight for the Australian title [in 2001] \u2014 he walked into the ring like he was a ghost. I saw the look on his face and I knew I had him."<\/p>\n

The controversial cross-code\ufeff legend chalked up 48 wins and 11 losses in a professional boxing career that spanned 2000-2021.<\/p>\n

The slanging matches that bubbled away before Mundine's bouts against Danny Green were particularly engrossing.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffI believe I'm the most flamboyant, charismatic, diverse, explosive athlete there has ever been in this country \u2014 ever," Mundine said ahead of his 2017 bout against Green.<\/p>\n

"You're going to see an extraordinary athlete and, by God's will, greatness in boxing."<\/p>\n

\"Danny<\/p>\n

Mundine gave a simple answer when asked about Garside's remarks.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"\ufeffIt's not for everybody, you know what I mean?" the 48-year-old said of professional boxing.<\/p>\n

"Everybody's their own individual, everybody's their own sort of character and has their own personality."<\/p>\n

Garside was among the 12 Australian boxers who qualified for Paris 2024 at the Pacific Games, held in the Solomon Islands.<\/p>\n

The lightweight boxer is aiming to upgrade his Tokyo 2020 bronze medal<\/a> to a gold medal in Paris.<\/p>\n

He's back in amateur bo\ufeffxing after winning three out of three professional fights following the Tokyo Olympic Games.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffThat's one thing I've realised, and maybe Harry hasn't realised it, but professional boxing is first and foremost a money-making business before it becomes a talent thing," said Hardman, who has a professional record of 15-2.<\/p>\n

"Harry is one of the most talented people I've ever seen get in a boxing ring, but if you aren't selling tickets you won't get found and you won't make a f—ing dollar, and this sport is way too hard to be getting punched in the head and making no money out of it.<\/p>\n

\"Issac<\/p>\n

"I don't set out to talk trash; I am just an honest person. That's what cuts through \u2014 my honesty. If someone's a f—wit I'll say he is. I'm just brutally honest. When I sit in a press conference and I say I'm going to chin someone, that's me telling him, 'I'm going to chin ya'. I'm going to do everything in my power to do that. I'm not going to sit there and say, 'I'm going to give you a f—ing box of chocolates after'. I'm just being honest and voicing what I want to do, and whether that comes across as being a f—wit or arrogant or whatever, then take it how you want it."<\/p>\n

Hardman\ufeff says Garside could miss out on making six figures because he's "too nice" and "too polite to rub someone the wrong way".<\/p>\n

Hardman has saved his most vicious barbs for \ufeffMichael Zerafa. The Caboolture brawler lost to the Victorian in 2022 and wants a rematch.<\/p>\n

"\ufeffThe guys at No Limit [Boxing] say, 'Mate, can you do this? Can you say this?'," Hardman said.<\/p>\n

"I don't need to be told to do any of that. There's no pressure on me to sell a fight because I'm not planting seeds to sell the fights; I'm just being who I am, it's a natural thing."<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old said he'd never considered pursuing the Olympics.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"\ufeffThis sport is way too hard to be not getting paid and there's a sure window for you to get paid and make money and I ain't wasting that doing amateur boxing."<\/p>\n

\"Alex<\/p>\n

Paro is zeroing in on a fight against American Montana Love in Las Vegas on Sunday (AEDT). The Queenslander is aiming to take his professional record to 24-0.<\/p>\n

\ufeff"I remember being at the start of my professional career and trying to build. Selling tables and tickets, there is a lot of pressure to it, 100 per cent," Paro said.<\/p>\n

"At the end of the day it's about putting bums on seats; that's how you get paid. Now it's lucky we have the pay-per-view revenue, as well.<\/p>\n

"It's a lot different to the amateurs and I think it's just a personal preference.<\/p>\n

"At the end of the day, people love drama. That's why Home and Away<\/em> is such a killer. There's always going to be drama around and it brings more eyes to the sport. YouTube boxing and shit like that now \u2014 it's bringing more eyes to the sport … It's honestly like a drama show."<\/p>\n

\"Liam<\/p>\n

Winwood contested Tokyo 2020 but has since moved to professional boxing.<\/p>\n

He says fights can be sold without talking trash and thinks Garside showed that in his short-lived professional stint.<\/p>\n

"I think I speak well, I don't have\ufeff to use profanities or anything like that to sell my fight, I think I'm an attractive fighter and pretty good when it comes to promoting my fights in the way that I speak," Winwood said.<\/p>\n

"In your press conferences and interviews you have to make yourself stand out, regardless of however you do it. I think Harry\ufeff found a niche with that, actually. He's very confident and outgoing and has a big personality, so I assume a lot of people started following him because of his personality first and foremost, and I never heard him talk any smack."<\/p>\n

Hardman fired off a catchy line.\ufeff<\/p>\n

"I'm going to go out there and hit him with the 'one, two, Timmy Tsyzu'," he said with his renowned brash style.<\/p>\n

"And that's what I'm going to do."\ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As Tyson Fury unloaded on Oleksandr Usyk a couple of weeks ago, calling his rival a "sausage", an "ugly little man" and a "rabbit", Harry […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":352159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352157"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=352157"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352157\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":352167,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/352157\/revisions\/352167"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/352159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=352157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=352157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=352157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}