Highland heavyweight Gary Cornish keen to give back to community that raised him
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GARY Cornish has never been shy about where he came from.
His nickname is The Highlander. He has Albu Gu Brath tattooed across his chest. He can regularly be seen around Merkinch on his weekends off.
The humble beginnings of Scotland’s premier heavyweight left him wanting to give something back to his community. Now he is going to get that chance.
Through the work of the new team behind him, ‘Team Highlander’, led by the efforts of his fiancé Lauren Oliver, Cornish will be delivering boxing sessions to children in Inverness. Teaming up with Highland Boxing Academy head coach Liam Foy, Cornish will be donning the pads and gloves to help those who may be in a similar situation to where he was 20 years ago.
“We’re just waiting for a slot where I’m not fighting and I have a few weeks spare,” said Cornish, who is now Glasgow-based and preparing for his ring comeback against Revaz Karelishvili in two weeks. “Liam will be helping me out and I’ll be helping him.
“I’m proud of where I’ve come from and what I’ve achieved. Hopefully it’s just the start.
“Hopefully it will get a lot of people involved. Boxing is doing really well in Inverness just now and you’ve got two clubs who are doing great things.”
Cornish turned professional in 2011 after a limited amateur career of just nine fights. The former Inverness High School pupil originally took up boxing to help with his football, where he played in the Highland League for Brora Rangers, before making a proper fist of his career as a pugilist.
However, if the clock hands were turned back, he would have made a different decision in 2005 when he first could have focused on boxing.
“Boxing helped me focus more on life – it’s a discipline and one I wished I started a lot earlier than I did,” he said. “Maybe it would have helped with my behaviour in school if I did!
“I’ve seen people offered a lot of stuff and gone down very different paths. I’m lucky I chose boxing and it definitely shows what can happen if you don’t have those options.”
Speaking to the giant Invernessian, who stands at six-foot-seven, you can sense a renewed optimism in his voice about his own career. Since signing with new management team MTK Scotland (previously MGM) he has been promised five fights this year, with another one already lined up for March after Karelishvili. For a man who has been in the ring just twice since his chastening defeat to Anthony Joshua in September 2015, the buzz has not gone away.
“You don’t really know what that buzz is like until you get into the ring,” said Cornish. “While I don’t look ahead of the next fight, having that schedule in front of me has made me more focused. I haven’t really had any problems adapting to going full-time – I used to fit my training in around my job, so I’m now able to get more rest.”
Two points victories over journeymen Kamil Sokolowskis and Tomas Mrazek were all he had to show for a frustrating 2016.
His partnership with esteemed fight boss Tommy Gilmour came to an end and an uncertain period beckoned.
However, MTK promotions manager Sam Kynoch saw enough potential in Cornish, who is still young in boxing terms, to sign him up and bring him into the expanding Glasgow stable.
Aside from giving him a busy calendar, Kynoch also hopes to schedule a promotion in Inverness, to repay Cornish’s hardy fanbase.
It is all go in the Team Highlander camp at the moment. Aside from his ring return and his homecoming help classes, he is also filming a fly-on-the-wall documentary about his journey so far.
“It’s just putting together everything that I have done and the ways in which boxing has helped change things for me,” added Cornish. “It’s just really to get more interest and showing everyone that boxing isn’t maybe what it’s perceived to be.”
Anyone interested in buying tickets for Cornish’s return to the ring can contact him directly or find tickets for ‘Impetus’ on Ticketmaster.
