GARY CORNISH, the Inverness heavyweight, will return to the ring at the St Andrew’s Sporting Club on November 19 when he takes on Plymouth-based Pole Kamil Sokolowski.
Cornish will earn only a tiny fraction of the six-figure sum he received for challenging Olympic gold medallist Anthony Joshua for the for the vacant Commonwealth and WBC International titles last month.
In the event, 28-year-old Cornish suffered a first career defeat when he lasted only 97 seconds at London’s O2 Arena after twice being put down before referee Victor Laughlin stepped in to end one-sided contest.
It was a shock to the system for the previously undefeated 6’ 7” Highlander after an unblemished run of 21 straight wins, but Sokolowski is extremely unlikely to prove anything like as troublesome as Joshua.
Confirming details of Cornish’s 23rd bout, his manager, Tommy Gilmour stressed its importance in terms of the rebuilding process as opposed to any financial inducement.
He said: “Gary is keen to re-establish himself as quickly as possible. I wanted him to have a longer rest, until the turn of the year, to recover fully from the shock. But he got to me first, saying that he was keen to go again.
“He wanted to get straight back in and send out a message that he is still a championship contender, and that told me he still has the same desire and wants to set the record straight.
“At 18 stone, who knows how far Gary can go? Who would ever have bet Buster Douglas to bash up Mike Tyson? Better fighters than Gary have been caught in the first round and bounced straight back.
“I also think he was caught in the headlights to an extent. The biggest crowd he had fought in front of previously was 6,000, whereas there were at least twice as many at the O2, so there were lots of factors.
“But he showed he was prepared to have a go and afterwards Joshua said he had felt a couple of Gary’s jabs, which was encouraging.”
Gilmour believes the door to British and Commonwealth glory will swing back open once Joshua has dealt with Dillian Whyte in December, as he expects him to also add the vacant British title to his CV before aiming at world dominance.
He added: “I want Gary to have a minimum of three bouts before the summer, by which time Joshua will probably be fighting for a world title, making the British and Commonwealth belts available.”
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