Garth Wood – Lessons in Life and Boxing
It’s funny where you can garner life lessons from. They can come from the musings of great historic philosophers, right through to a seemingly off-hand remark from a casual acquaintance that parks itself in the forefront of your mind as having much greater significance than you first gave it credit for. And in rare cases, they can come from the experiences of a contestant on a reality boxing show.
In late 2009, series one of “The Contender Australia” was compulsory viewing in our household. We were entertained by the antics of Sonny “Jungle Boy” Michael Angelo. We were disenchanted by the frequency with which Pradeep “The Indian Warrior” Singh burst into tears. There was a period of awkward silence in our living room after Victor “The Crushin’ Russian” Oganov talked about being a less violent man these days and noted that he doesn’t hit his kids, paused for a split second and then failed to extend that point to include not hitting his wife. The show was compelling viewing in the main, albeit that I hadn’t really decided upon a combatant to barrack for until an episode around halfway through where it became crystal clear – despite his terrible nickname, Garth “From The Hood” Wood was the guy.
Wood and I have a significant parallel in our lives in that we were both left by our wives. The details of the two cases diverge here – Wood and his partner were together for more than a decade and had two daughters, while my marriage was extremely short-lived and, thankfully, there were no children involved. Nonetheless, the pain, the loss of direction and self-purpose and all of the other inner demons are more or less common. In a fantastic The Daily Telegraph piece by Paul Kent on December 10 of last year*, Kent asks “Where does a man who had his life all sorted out go when it all disappears?”
It’s a great question. Where does a man who had his life all sorted out go when it all disappears?
Well, that can vary. From all reports, Wood hit the bottle hard, going on an extended bender and picking fights with Kings Cross bouncers in the hope that “someone would shoot me or stab me.” His family worried themselves sick about a suicide or a series of actions that led someone to take Garth’s life for him. I deliberately steered a wide path around booze and other things that may have numbed the pain but brought other consequences to the table, instead methodically breaking every day down into five or ten minute sections and just trying to get through each section in one piece. Within a couple of months, life had resumed a reasonable level of normality. Let’s call that phase one of a two-step recovery process.
For Garth Wood, phase one began with the look of disgust on the faces of his daughters at what he had recently become and the realisation that he wasn’t the kind of person to throw it all away. He became a more regular attendee at Johnny Lewis's gym at Sydney University for a brief period of time before the offer to become part of “The Contender Australia” was made. His life had resumed a reasonable level of normality. Phase one of the recovery process was, for all intents and purposes, in the books.
Phase two is decidedly more subtle and complicated. While it’s an axiom that is golf-specific, there is a statement made by Dr Bob Rotella in his book Golf Is Not A Game Of Perfect that goes “Good golfers gain control over the ball by feeling that they are giving up control”. Extending that idea to life, you gain more control over your life by feeling as though you can let go – by having the nerve to push all of your chips into the middle of the table when you feel as though you have the winning hand. A simple notion, but one that isn’t terribly easy to implement when you’re rebuilding your self-belief and striking hurdles at those little 50/50 moments along the way when faced with a bold opportunity and a safer alternative.
Am I up to this? Umm… err…. maybe… I don’t know….
This jumbled, uncertain thought process may or may not have gone through the mind of Wood when Peter Mitrevski withdrew from the series days before filming, emergency calls went out in search of a replacement and the call finally reached Wood. According to Mitrevski, for Garth Wood the time spent as part of The Contender Australia “was his rehab”. Perhaps for Wood the first and second steps became intertwined. In the aforementioned Paul Kent article, he was quoted as saying “"When I started to clean myself up, I thought I could really give this a shot.”
His campaign to become “The Contender” was presented with a little extra luck via a first-round bye, but thereafter his ever-growing belief and momentum carried the day. A brutal punch that can best be described as a running right hook (yes, running – he came in off a seemingly Paul Collingwood-esque run-up as his opponent was reeling away) led to a second round knock-out of Israel Kani that put him into the semi-finals, and a majority points decision against Oganov saw him reach the final against Kariz Kariuki. His ungainly, slightly awkward, fighting-in-a-phone-booth style wasn’t always pretty. Mind you, it’s a style that bears a strong resemblance to that of Ricky Hatton, whom you may remember as the British fighter who ended the world title reign of Kostya Tszyu – heady company indeed. Nonetheless, Kariuki entered the final as a solid favourite for the contest. Obviously no-one was able to convince Wood of this.
Am I up to this? You’re damned right I’m up to this. Bring it on.
Within two rounds, the urgency and intensity of Wood had taken the pundits (and quite possibly Kariuki) aback – he was getting inside, all heart and work-rate, not allowing Kariuki any distance or time to gain some rhythm. By the fifth round, it was clear that Wood had the fight in his keeping if he could avoid being knocked out. He duly kept his feet and earned both ‘The Contender’ title and the right to a date against Anthony Mundine. Garth Wood 1, doubters 0. Arguably, he had also completed stage two of the recovery process. He regained control of his life by giving up any thoughts of trying to consciously control his environment, pushing all of his chips into the middle of the table and leaving with the spoils. It was an inspiring tale for anyone who has been knocked down and is still trying to fully regain their sense of self.
Around the same time, I had started planning a first ever overseas trip for July and August of 2010, taking in London, St Andrews for the British Open (which will be getting its own column later in the year) and parts of Canada and the US. But the key wrinkle was that I was going alone – no pre-existing friendships to lean on for entertainment or to help with starting conversations with the locals – just sink or swim on the basis of my own ability to make things happen. I’ll spare you the details, but suffice to say that all of the chips that had been pushed into the middle were returned with interest. Stage two was complete.
Back to Wood – despite a number of attempts by the Anthony Mundine camp during 2010 to have the fight cancelled as Mundine wanted a bigger drawcard for an opponent, Wood went into the fight on December 9 of last year as the extreme outsider, with as much as $11 (or 10 to 1) available about the former South Sydney fullback. On paper it appeared as though Mundine’s hand speed and in-ring savvy developed over a number of years would simply prove too much in the end – just as it had done in his 2006 fight with Danny Green. I shelled out the $50 for the pay-per-view in hope rather than expectation of a Wood victory. Thankfully, this mindset was not shared by Wood.
Am I up to this? You’re damned right I’m up to this. Bring it on.
Whilst Mundine may have had slightly the better of the first four rounds, it was clear that Wood had adjusted to the higher level of opponent well and that he was gaining some momentum. Still, nothing signalled how close the end was… a vicious left hook…. a brief moment where it looked like Mundine had gone to ground because he had gotten himself into a tangle with the ropes after being struck…. the realisation that Mundine was legitimately knocked down and showing no signs of getting it back together before the referee reached the count of ten…. pandemonium. Garth Wood 2, doubters 0.
The victory against Mundine never seemed like a part of Wood’s recovery process – rather, it was a case of more fruit being borne from the recovery which had been completed many months earlier. He went into the fight with Mundine with what appeared to be a complete self-assuredness that he was up to the task at hand. That same attitude is likely to serve him well against future opponents (starting with an April 13 re-match against Mundine in Brisbane) as his star continues to rise. And as for yours truly, let me put it this way – had you suggested twelve months ago that I should write about sports for a website, I’d have smiled politely at you and then outlined multiple reasons as to why I wasn’t up to this.
It’s funny what you can learn from a contestant on a reality boxing show.
Thanks to Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images AsiaPac for use of the photo
* The Paul Kent article mentioned above can be found here: http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/boxing/how-garth-wood-came-back-from-brink/story-e6freygr-1225968560625
