Dancing With The Stars: Harry Garside trading the ring for the dancefloor as gloves come off
Muhammad Ali once famously said he floated like a butterfly and Harry Garside will be hoping his feet do the same.
The boxer is moving from the ring to the dance floor in the new season of Dancing With The Stars in what he's hoping will be a knockout performance.
He's previously worn dresses and miniskirts on red carpets and has taken up ballet, so, like his fast-moving hands, the 27-year-old Olympic bronze medal winner's next move is often impossible to see coming.
'I refuse to be put in a box,' Garside told The Sunday Times.
Garside is hoping to lead the next generation of men by example. But leading doesn't necessarily equate to strength — to him, it means being willing to show vulnerability.
'You manhood is flexible right now, and I like that,' Garside said.
'You can be the stoic, strong person, then you can also be the person who's had an average month. And you can admit you've had an average month; maybe you just need someone to lend a hand and help you pick up a few things that you're struggling to manage at that moment.'
Unsurprisingly, it's not just sporting champions like LeBron James and Serena Williams from whom the boxer draws inspiration.
It's Hungarian childhood development expert Gabor Mate, and anti-racism keynote speaker Diya Khanna whom Garside says help him to 'develop my thoughts.'
As for nurturing his dancing skillsr, Garside has teamed up with Siobhan Power, who is no stranger to working with athletes having been paired with Ben Cousins last season.
And he isn't the only sportsman looking to win, with fellow Olympian Susie O'Neill and former AFL star Trent Cotchin gunning for the title.
Despite his lean physique — competing in the 63.5kg Olympic weight class — the boxer said he was 'struggling to move my body' after the first week of rehearsals, and had bucked the competition's fitness trend.
'Everyone says you lose weight on the show, but I ended up putting on weight for some reason. I don't know why,' Garside joked.
While he hoped his prior ballet training would give him a leg-up, unfortunately, the fighter 'hadn't seen much improvement' come from it.
Garside revealed he got the idea of doing ballet after hearing boxing superstar and dual Olympic gold medallist Vasiliy Lomachenko adopted traditional Ukrainian dancing to improve his footwork.
'It definitely helps me in my boxing, doing ballet — it didn't help me too much for the Latin and ballroom, and that's OK,' he smiled.
With colour, fashion sense and self-expression encouraged on the show, the question some fans might instead be asking is: Will Garside be donning a dress on the dance floor?
'I'm not so sure,' he teased. 'Who knows what you'll see.'
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