Ryan Garner, The Piranha

The Piranha is currently basking in clear blue waters. Yes, Ryan Garner, the Southampton Snapper, holds the distinction of being the British and European super featherweight champion.

Also the WBC International belt holder, life couldn’t be sweeter for the 27-year-old father of two girls and local boy made good.

Word on the grapevine is, after one more fight, the plan is to place a ring in the centre circle of St Mary’s Stadium, home of his footballing favourites known as the Saints.

But, only a few short years back, Garner was nearly lost to the sport.

Having burst onto the boxing landscape as a cherubic-looking 18-year-old and European amateur gold medallist, Garner was the teenage tyro tipped for the top.

Garner’s emergence coincided with that of the likes of Anthony Yarde and Daniel Dubois and his promoter Frank Warren considered the trio as being in the same bracket. All three destined for stardom.

However, as Garner departed his teens and entered his early twenties, the sparkling sheen of his early career prospects was starting to erode.

Elite young fighters, who enjoy success as amateurs, sacrifice so much and perhaps it is inevitable that a sort of resentment creeps in at some point. Where he was previously 100% switched on and dedicated to his craft, a few corners began to be cut.

It was all pretty much harmless stuff, nothing more than attempting to recapture the lost youth he missed out on. But freewheeling your way through life and boxing simply doesn’t mix. It doesn’t end well.

Garner was missing some structure and meaning in his life. He didn’t know what or who he was doing it all for and the price on the ticket didn’t seem worth paying, at the time.

Evidence of his shortcutting started to come to light. Obvious signs that he was crashing weight and it cannot be much clearer than twice fainting after stepping off the scales and being withdrawn from fights.

A hugely promising career appeared to be doomed and Garner wasn’t particularly in the mood to do anything about it.

Now, with his waist weighed down with three coveted belts, would he have done things differently coming into the sport as a precociously gifted teenager?

“I would and I wouldn’t,” considered the hopefully soon-to-be world title challenger. “Listen, I maybe could have been where I am now, probably a couple of years ago. But, as I have said many times, I am a big believer in everything happens for a reason.

“I believe everything has fallen into place at the perfect time now and I am at my peak. Or maybe coming into my peak. Who knows? I am fighting the right people at the right time.

“If I had done it all before and kicked on too early, I could have come unstuck.”

If we could swim the Piranha in reverse, what bits would he have done differently? Would he have stuck as an amateur a bit longer and maybe got some of the youthful exuberance out of his system before tackling the serious stuff?

“I still would have dived in at 18. I fell out of love with the amateurs so if I had kept on with that I might not be boxing today.

“I don’t know if I would do things differently. I know I have made mistakes, but it is character building. I believe it is just part of the road and I don’t really want to change it because I have learned from it.

“I might have done it further down the road if I didn’t do it then. Luckily I made the mistakes I did when I was young and I wouldn’t be the man I am today without it, or the fighter. It has moulded me.

“I am happy with the position I am in now so I am not going to change it,” added Garner, who concedes that when he was out living life to the full he could happily have put boxing firmly in his rear-view mirror.

“Yeah definitely, there was few times I could have quit. I remember when I first got with my missus just over five years ago, I said to her that I didn’t really want to do it anymore and I could have walked away then.

“I was working at a company and I was like ‘f**k this, I don’t want to do it no more’. I was done with boxing and I just wanted to be a normal bloke and have no worries. Training is a lot of commitment and I wanted to switch off because boxing is a whole lifestyle.

“Just because you are good at something doesn’t mean you always enjoy it. People don’t see the hours in the gym getting punched in the face and cutting weight. They can only look from the outside-in.

“If you do a nine to five when you are done you don’t think about it again. So there were many times I could have walked away, many times. I didn’t mind working, but I knew that I could do something better with my life. I remember being on a building site when the temperature was -1 or -2. I wasn’t a fan of it!”

With a run of the mill job there is rarely an eventual bounty to go with it, a kind of jackpot to aim for. Now Garner is chasing a dream and making a pretty good fist of it.

“Yeah, I am money-driven and always have been. I remember when I was working and, if you go out with your friends at the weekend, you are skint by the Monday and borrowing money. So you are always playing catch-up.

“In boxing I can make a good living for myself and I could be retired at 30 with a house paid for and money in the bank. Then, when my career is done, I can do what I want.

“If I’d carried on doing what I wanted back then, I’d still be on the building site now, ducking and diving, scratching about for money.

“It is not just financial. When I am walking around Southampton I love the buzz. Being at the games with the belts and people asking for photos. I love it, I am headlining shows and I am centre of attention.

“Everyone in the city is recognising me now. It is who you are as a person as well, I am not big-headed and, to me, I am just an average bloke who is polite to everyone.

“It is also a massive help having the football club right behind me. And I can fight! If I was boring to watch or couldn’t fight much, it would be much harder. With each fight it is growing and growing and growing.”