I think I started boxing to sort of prove my manhood and fell in love with it very quickly,” Melbourne- born boxer Harry Garside, 27, tells WHO on a Zoom call, as we discuss the beginnings of his career.
More comfortable in the kitchen with his mother when he was younger, he felt out of place among the men in his life.
“My brothers are really manly, really blokey,” he says. “Dad had this massive, masculine bravado and I just felt quite soft compared to them and I felt like my manhood got questioned.”
Feeling the need to prove something and find an identity that no-one would question, Garside started boxing at the age of 9.
“It gave me everything I was hoping for, especially in my teenage years. People have a preconceived idea of what boxers are. Boxers are tough, boxers are fearless.” Having established his ‘masculinity’ to the outside world, as time went on, he began to question exactly what being a man means.
“Masculinity comes in many different forms – I just didn’t realise that when I was younger,” he says. Garside believes we all have masculine and feminine coexisting inside of us. “I definitely have that inside of me – it’s just part of who I am,” he explains.
“I love exploring all parts of myself – whatever comes up: the good, the bad, the ugly. And trying to understand that I can enjoy things that are opposites and stereotypically not normal, and that’s fine.”
A boxer and a ballerina seem worlds apart, but both are strong and extremely hardworking. Garside saw an opportunity to combine them, having always been interested in dance.
“[As a kid] I was a little bit scared to tell my family, my dad and brothers especially, that I want to dance. So I kept it inside. The older you get, the more you realise [how to] step into who you really are. I started [ballet] in 2019 and absolutely love it still.
“You’re very conscious of your body – the movement, the flow. There’s tension in every muscle. The crossover to boxing is quite good. I’m very grateful I started.”
Alongside the ballet classes, Garside has defied gender stereotypes by wearing nail varnish and dresses, and challenging himself to wear makeup for a day. The Olympian credits the Reach Foundation for encouraging him to delve into himself and question things.
“[From] the age of 9, probably younger, I played this role of trying to search for my manhood and then they entered my life [at 16] and gave me an opportunity to ask, ‘Who am I?’”
And while his demeanour, boxing career and attitude to life ooze confidence, Garside admits that feeling is fickle.
“There are times where I love boxing. I love being in my environment. I’ve worked really hard at that. But then there are times as well when I feel insecure. Confidence is a weird one – it comes and goes.”
Having faced a devastating defeat in the first round at the Paris Olympics just weeks before our chat, Garside, who previously won bronze in Tokyo 2020, opens up about how he’s feeling.
“My campaign didn’t go anywhere like I thought it would,” he says, “but that’s the reality of life. Sometimes you’re on, sometimes you’re not.
“As soon as I got out of the ring, I was pretty scared of what the next period would look like. I showed this deep emotion in a post-match interview, but I think my body has just gone into self-preservation mode since then. It’s just trying to protect me right now. I think if I allow myself [to be] like a floodgate, if it opened, I would probably be in all sorts.”
Garside, who proved popular with viewers of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!, finishing second to netball great Liz Ellis in 2023, has written a few poems since coming home, expressing his feelings that way. Reading some of them, he reveals a deeply sensitive part of himself. So who does he hope is watching his efforts?
“All humans – especially young boys. There’s been a fair bit of change in the last 20 years. Some good, some bad. If there’s a massive portion of young boys who are looking up to people like Andrew Tate, something’s not right. I care about those people I care about – all young people. It’s our duty as adults to take care of and help them.”
(The Good Fight by Harry Garside is out now)
