Australian boxer Harry Garside is an “ordinary kid from Lilydale” who faces an extraordinary task.
The 24-year-old plumber from the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne takes on pound-for-pound superstar Andy Cruz on Friday (3.47pm AEST) for a place in the lightweight gold medal showdown.
Garside is already guaranteed an Olympic medal — Australia’s first in boxing in 33 years – but he will need to dig deep to beat the Cuban Cruz.
Only 25, Cruz already has 110 amateur wins to his name from 118 fights. Garside, for perspective, has won 19 fights in 34 outings. But he plans to leave everything in the ring.
“I’ve always wanted to fight him – he’s the best in the world,” Garside told News Corp. “I want to see where I am against him. I want to see how I stack up against him. And I want to see if I can beat him.”
Cruz is the No. 3 seed in Tokyo but really, he’s the man to beat. And no one has managed that in 25 straight fights.
“The reality is, he has paved the way to be where he is and have the recognition he has,” Garside said.
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“He deserves all the credit he has. He’s an exceptional athlete and he’s pound-for-pound one of the best in amateur boxing. To be honest, I’m going to have to pull the (rabbit) out of the hat.”
But don’t mistake Garside’s honest assessment as any sort of early concession. He plans to win. Like he has three times already inside Tokyo’s Kokugikan Arena.
Garside outclassed Papua New Guinea’s John Ume in his opener, dispatched No. 2 seed Jonas Jonas from Namibia, before squeezing past Kazakh Zakir Safiullin to book a place in the final four.
The win over Safiullin felt like a hometown fight for Garside, who had a massive Aussie support contingent — that included athletes and staff — cheering him on. It was a testament to Garside’s popularity in the village.
“I always just try my best to be a good human and talk to people,” he said. “The reality is, I still feel like an ordinary kid from Lilydale.”
Garside was back in the gym on Thursday working on tactics to beat Cruz after a day off on Wednesday.
“He must make people believe that he can be hit,” Garside said of what makes Cruz just so good. “Everyone always tries to hit him in his head. Everyone always goes for it – he must lure them in with traps. And you can never really hit him with a clean, flush shot without getting one or two back.”
Cruz’s style is “poetry in motion”, according to Garside, who has stolen headlines previously for his ballet training, which is a small part of his overall preparation.
“He’s more of a dancer than he is a boxer,” he said, “and I can’t wait to bring my dancing shoes on Friday.”
Tale of the tape:
Name: Andy Cruz
Age: 25
Nation: Cuba
Height: 168cm
Record 110-8 (8 KOs)
Name: Harry Garside
Age: 24
Nation Australia
Height: 176cm
Record: 19-15 (0 KOs)
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