Comeback complete: Garside dominates in return to ring

West Australian

14-05-2025

Harry Garside has exorcised his Olympic demons with a crushing win in his return to professional boxing, beating Queenslander Charlie Bell by TKO in Sydney.
Behind a dominant left hand, Garside was never troubled in his first fight since crashing out of the Paris Olympics with referee Les Fear stopping the lightweight bout after five of the six rounds.
Garside received a cut above his left eye in the first round at Hordern Pavilion on Wednesday night, but controlled the fight from the beginning.
He said afterwards the cut never worried him.
"I've been cut many times in my life, bloody southpaws always get cut," Garside said.
"I've definitely had it before, I haven't been cut for many years but I feel like I just had to get back into gear and box nice and smart."
The Olympic bronze medallist started to hammer home his advantage in the third round with his trademark quick feet allowing him to get in under Bell's defence and retreat before the Queenslander could counter.
Garside's left hand caused continuous trouble for Bell as he was able to cut Bell's left eye in the first and make several blows to his opponent's head in the third and fourth rounds.
In a sign of Garside's dominance, Fear stepped into Bell's corner at the end of the fourth round telling him to protect himself or he would be forced to stop the fight.
It proved the beginning of the end with the referee allowing only one more round before stepping in and awarding the fight to the former amateur champion.
Garside now has his sights set on higher honours, believing he has the ability to retake the Australian lightweight championship he won in 2022.
"I'm one of the most patriotic people you will meet," Garside said.
"I want to try and win the Australian and, I don't know why, but the Commonwealth title always spoke to me."
Earlier, an instant classic played out for the Australian heavyweight championship with Stevan Ivic (7-0-1, 2 KOs) hanging on in a 10-round fight to retain his title by unanimous decision.
Challenger Toese Vousiutu (8-2, 7 KOs) looked to be on the ropes in the sixth round, being knocked down for a count of eight, but mounted a spirited comeback to push Ivic all the way.
While Ivic was never knocked down in the fight and won the early rounds, there were several moments in the last four rounds where he appeared to be hanging on for dear life.
Watching on ringside, Australian boxing champion Tim Tszyu said the fight was "definitely fight of the year".
"I might have lost a few brain cells," Ivic said in the ring afterwards.
"I thought I had him in the sixth round, then in the seventh he beat the shit out of me.
"I was like, 'What the f***?'"
Ivic will take time to recover, but will have to front up for another title defence against Liam Talivaa next.
"He's dangerous, I might need a month off to get my s*** together. Maybe more," Ivic said.