'Miserable existence': Harry Garside faces uncomfortable truth after Paris nightmare

Slumped on the floor, moments after revealing the painful toll of being hammered in the first round to a taunting Richard Kovacs from Hungary, Harry Garside burst into tears in what will be an iconic moment for the all the wrong reasons for the Victorian fighter.

Garside's tears were laced in fear. Fear of the future. Fear of failure. Fear of perhaps having to put himself through the rigours of professional boxing again to give himself some sort of relevance in the public sphere.

The part that will also have him raising questions in his own mind was the constant taunting by Kovacs, clearly unafraid by what Garside was going to dish up even though the Aussie won the first round.

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The Hungarian fighter cruised to victory and was largely unbothered on the way there.

Taking to social media after the emotional scenes, Garside did not offer any hints on what his next steps might be, rather expressing a more philosophical tone to the gut-wrenching loss.

"I've been beating myself up for the last couple of hours since I fought and had a couple of screams, a couple of cries, then I went and got some food and I had this realisation that this absolutely sucks. We all hate failing," he said.

"I went on a two-decade journey to try and get that gold medal and yes, I didn't get it, but I've become my own friend in that journey.

"We all love success, we all love winning, we all love succeeding, but I'm grateful that I've become my own friend.

"The longest relationship we have is the one we have with ourselves and for most of my life my relationship has been so f---ing poor and it's almost the weird paradox of the more success I got, the worst my relationship with myself became."

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He added that he wants to be a dad one day and he doesn't want to pass self-loathing and "negative things" on to his children, calling it a "miserable existence".

Speaking to Nine's Today, Garside was again reflective.

"It's important for young people to see life will knock you down," he added.

"A lot of it is out of our control sometimes too and I think it's important for young people to see failure is part of life."

Garside said he thought winning a gold medal would bring him fulfilment but the loss has forced him to widen his scope.

"The way you get self-worth and the way you get self-respect is how you treat other people," he said.

"It's the little moments in the day when you help someone carry their shopping or you shake someone's hand or you say hello in public or you do something kind for someone, that is how you build your self-worth, self-confidence and self-love."

Garside declared he wanted out of professional boxing, partly because he "wasn't much of a trash-talker" and "too nice", while also feeling unfulfilled about his bronze medal in Tokyo.

The Aussie boxer had put all his eggs in one basket to attain, what is a roll of the dice at the best of times in boxing, an Olympic gold medal.

Just ask Roy Jones Jr - the boxing Hall of Famer who was infamously robbed of gold at Seoul by two judges who were later banned for life.

Most would have been happy to say that bronze is enough, but Garside wanted more.

He wanted the gold treatment that's afforded to gold medal-winning Olympians. Sponsorships to the brim, speaking engagements - the lot.

If he had won gold then there was every chance Garside would have been a media darling, and would probably never have to work another job or step in the ring for the rest of his life.

But now he faces an uncertain future. Once all the hoo-ha settles down from the Olympics, Garside must confront an uncomfortable question. Does he return to the ring as a professional?

The Aussie was dumped by legendary trainer Johnny Lewis over claims he reportedly rejected the opportunity to headline a boxing card in his home city of Melbourne, instead opting to appear on a reality TV show.

He is 3-0 as a professional, with two wins coming by the way of knockout. But according to Lewis he kept on knocking back fights and as the iconic trainer put it, "you can't take shortcuts."

The Melbourne boxer accused his trainers of not prioritising his wellbeing while also speaking openly about his concern over concussions related to boxing.

Maybe with his new-found perspective, Garside can still cash-in on his name without stepping into the squared circle.

After all, he's a Commonwealth Games gold medallist and an Olympic bronze medal winner.

But the lure of money and prestige on offer in the pro ranks might be too difficult to ignore.

And most importantly, once things die down and Garside is left with just the noise in his own head and the outside quiet, the undying racket that is boxing may once again become a saviour.