Lucky escape: 'Miracle' no one killed in A9 smash insists Inverness boxer Gary Cornish
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A HEAVYWEIGHT boxer says a high-speed car crash he and his fiancée were fortunate to walk away from was worse than anything he has experienced in the ring.
Gary Cornish (30), from Merkinch, was on his way to a dinner headlined by IBF world champ Anthony Joshua in Turnberry when disaster struck.
Cornish said the ambulance crew who arrived at the scene were “amazed” there were no fatalities, calling it “a miracle” that everyone survived as walking wounded.
But it has put question marks over his future in boxing.
He and fiancée Lauren Oliver (23) were close to Blair Atholl on a single-carriageway stretch of the A9 just before 11am last Friday when the accident happened.
Cornish and Miss Oliver escaped serious injury, he said the impact of the incident was much worse than anything he has ever gone through inside the squared circle.
“When you go in to box you know exactly what’s going to happen and you’re prepared,” he said.
“With this it just came out of the blue and having Lauren in the car with me and worrying about her just made it worse.
“I stayed conscious but I think she might have blacked out for a moment and then she was stuck when she came to, so I had to help her out of the car.
“She was really sore and I had taken a knock to the head, but we also managed to help the other driver out of his car and then called the emergency services.”
Cornish and Miss Oliver were taken to Ninewells Hospital in Dundee and returned to Inverness on Sunday where both were adamant that their wedding, due to take place at Inverness Cathedral on July 1, will go ahead as planned.
Cornish said: “Lauren has been great at taking on all the organisation of that while I’ve been concentrating on boxing. Everything is in place and we’re both still here, so that will definitely be happening. It’s like we’ve got even more reason to celebrate now.”
Cornish, a former joiner, moved into boxing full-time at the end of last year and has suffered just one professional defeat in 25 fights – ironically against Joshua in a first-round stoppage during a challenge for the Commonwealth title in 2015.
His return to the ring, though, is in the balance as he said there will need to be checks to see just how well he recovers from his injuries.
“I’ve got a few bruises, which I’m obviously used to,” he said. “But I also took a blow to the head and chipped a bone in my elbow, so it will be a case of waiting to see how that heals and going through whatever tests I need to make sure I’m fit.
“Only time will tell, but the main thing is we’re both still here.”
Jim Oliver, Cornish’s father-in-law-to-be, posted a message on Facebook saying how a “guardian angel” must have been looking after them.
Picking them up from Inverness railway station last Sunday, he said getting a hug from his daughter “was better than any Father’s Day card”.
He added: “I also gave Gary a hug for looking after my girl – in two weeks’ time he takes over from me. I know she will be in safe hands.”
He had been looking after granddaughter Lilly over the weekend.
“We just kept very calm and haven’t really told her anything about the accident. She’s only two so wouldn’t really understand anyway,” he said.
“The car was a write-off and the only thing she kept asking was ‘Where’s my car?’. We just tell her it’s gone away.
“When you think about what could have happened it’s amazing that they both walked away like they did.”
A 46-year-old man has been charged in relation to the accident.
