‘No! What the f***?': Harry Garside wins comeback fight in huge drama
Harry Garside has made a seriously impressive return to professional boxing, winning his comeback fight via a controversial stoppage win on Wednesday night.
Taking on Queenslander Charlie bell in a six-round lightweight fight at Sydney's Hordern Pavilion, Garside threw haymakers from the opening bell in an impressive display as he dominated the bout.
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Garside connected with some straight jabs in the first round and looked like he might end the fight with a knockout inside the first three minutes as he connected hard on bell.
Long, nasty gashes opened up around the eyes of both fighters in the opening round but the cuts were patched up well.
Garside rocked Bell with a barrage of punches in the third round, but the coal miner from Moranbah somehow hung in there and managed to go the distance.
Referee Les Fear inquired about the fight being stopped after the fourth round, but Bell's trainer and father was having none of it in their corner.
But brutal scenes between the fifth and final round, the referee stopped the fight, telling Bell while he was sitting on his stool that he wasn't throwing enough punches.
'No, you've been hit too much, you haven't won a round,' Fear said.
'Sit down Charlie, that's enough. That's it.'
A furious Bell said: 'What? What? No! F*** off, no! What the f***,' he said.
Bell's crowd of supporters booed when the TKO decision was read out.
Watch the controversial stoppage in the video above
On Main Event commentary, Tim Tszyu said: 'I think Charlie Bell deserved to continue on. I don't think he was ever really hurt. He's an Aussie warrior, I feel like it could have continued.
'You can see by his facial expressions, he wanted to finish the fight. I guess the referee is trying to protect him, but I don't know.
'Harry was landing some really clean shots.'
Main Event commentator Ben Damon said: 'Clearly the coalminer from Moranbah didn't want to be pulled out of the fight. He would have gone another 10 if they asked him to.'
In somewhat anticlimactic scenes, Garside came to centre ring and consoled Bell, with the two fighters embracing.
The result takes Garside's professional boxing record to 4-0 and was the perfect start to his question to become world champion.
The Courier Mail's Peter Badel said Garside possesses 'the fastest jab in Australian boxing', but added: 'The jury is still out on whether he has the power to really put someone away.'
Garside, 27, burst onto the amateur boxing scene by winning a bronze medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, going on to represent Australia at the Tokyo Olympics before turning pro.
Garside won his first three fights as a professional before returning to the amateurs, mounting a quest to win Olympic gold.
He fell short of that goal at last year's Paris Olympics and was emotional after a disappointing result — now he was returned to pro boxing once again.
In the main event fight on Wednesday, super bantamweight Sam Goodman defeated Mexico's Cesar Vaca Espinoza via unanimous decision (99-92, 99-91, 100-90) to take his record to 20-0.
It was a welcome return to the ring for Goodman after his world title fight against Japan's Naoya Inoue was called off after the Aussie sustained multiple cuts in training.
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