Inverness heavyweight Gary Cornish is determined to mark the start of a new era in style when he returns to the ring against Georgian Revaz Karelishvili at Paisley Lagoon Centre tonight.
The fight is Cornish’s first since he turned full-time at the end of December with promoters MTK Scotland, with his last bout a points victory against Czech boxer Tomas Mrazek in Glasgow last June.
The Highlander has been booked to face Englishman Sam Sexton for the British heavyweight title in June, but must first overcome Karelishvili, who has eight wins, seven by knockout, and one defeat from nine bouts.
Cornish is refusing to look beyond tonight’s fight, and said: “I’m looking forward to getting back in the ring. It’s the start of a new chapter for me.
“I have not really thought about the title fight – this weekend is a title fight to me.
“If something goes wrong there will not be a title fight in the summer so I can’t look past this one.
“I don’t know too much about my opponent, my coach Billy Nelson has found out some things about him and we’ve worked on it, but I don’t really think about the other fighter too much.”
Former joiner Cornish already feels he is reaping the benefits of full-time training in the Central Belt, and the 29-year-old added: “It’s been good to just concentrate on boxing without having to go away for my job.
“It’s given me more time to train, rest and eat which is all beneficial.
“There are also other professionals in the gym such as David Brophy and Stephen Simmons
“When I was back in Inverness I just trained by myself but having other professionals there, we drive each other on.”
