Olympian boxer Harry Garside has dismissed comments made by Jeff Fenech in regards to his choice of opponents.
Garside won his professional debut late last year, on the undercard of Paul Gallen and Darcy Lussick’s fight night in Sydney.
Now, he’ll fight for the Australian lightweight title on Wednesday night, against Manuer Matet – whom Fenech said yesterday would create problems for the Olympic medallist.
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“I take my hat off to you Harry,” Fenech said at Monday’s press conference.
“I’m not going to say he’s going to beat you but he’s going to give you a lot of problems.”
Matet boasts a 4-1 record and had plenty of trash talk for Garside on Monday, pledging to knock him out.
“Harry’s certainly got one hell of a fighter in front of him,” Fenech said.
“I’m proud of Harry for doing it but it’s not a fight I would’ve had for my guy having his second fight. I would’ve maybe looked at it for down the road so I think it’s been a very, very brave decision for team Garside to do this and I’m sure they’re ready.”
But Garside wasn’t bothered – and said that the reason he’d chosen such an opponent is because he had no desire, and nor did he think the public had any desire, to see him fight someone several levels below.
It’s a common sight in the sport. A hyped fighter bursts onto the scene and is handed a bout that more resembles a sparring session or a public workout than a professional boxing match.
“That’s why (Fenech is) not my coach, because I want to test myself,” Garside said in an interview with Fox Sports.
“I don’t want to be fighting taxi drivers, making my family and friends pay for tickets, flights are expensive, this stuff is expensive,” he said, revealing that his friends had taken time off work to travel from Melbourne.
“They’re coming up to support me and I don’t want to be fighting people who I’m just going to knock over in one round.
“I want to be fighting people who are actually a challenge and I have to bring the best version of myself.
“If Jeff wants to go with this guy, that’s up to him. But I don’t want to do that throughout my career.”
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