Ryan Garcia vs Emmanuel Tagoe – Results & Post-Fight Report

Having spent a lengthy time away from the ring, Ryan Garcia returned at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas to record a twelve round points win in his super lightweight clash with Emmanuel Tagoe, who showed limited ambition.

Garcia had last been seen in January 2021, stopping Luke Campbell in a thriller, but took time away from the sport to deal with personal problems, which followed a lengthy layoff due to an injury when looking to get back into title contention. Tagoe came in as a former IBO champion, but he was way out of his depth in this one.

Garcia began in business-like fashion, and targeted the body of the Ghanaian, as well as connecting with head shots, and he made an early breakthrough in the second, with a right hand stunning Tagoe, before a short right out of a clinch had him spinning to the deck.

Tagoe managed to beat the count and see out the round, but the pattern was set as he was set on survival. Garcia continued to dominate and look for the finish, but Tagoe would regularly stifle the 23-year-old’s progress, and this happened at regular intervals.

Garcia did have another moment in round ten, where he landed with a right hand that staggered Tagoe into the ropes, but again he survived, and ‘King Ry’ was forced to go twelve rounds for the first time in his career.

Two scores of 119-108, and a third 118-109 pretty much reflected Garcia’s superiority.

On the undercard, Marlen Esparza unified the world flyweight title, adding Naoko Fujioka’s WBA belt to her WBC crown with a points win. Eaparza largely dominated, and took victory by two scores of 100-90, and a third at 97-93.

It looks like it could finally be the end of the line for Gabriel Rosado, as he slipped to a majority decision defeat to Shane Mosley Jr at super middleweight. A drawn scorecard of 95-95 was overruled by scores of 98-92 and 97-93 in Mosley’s favour.

Patrick Teixeira’s return following losing his WBO super welterweight title ended in disaster, as the Brazilian was disqualified in round two for an intentional rabbit punch, and with Paul Valenzuela Cuesta unable to continue, the fight was curtailed.

Super lightweight George Rincon remained unbeaten, taking a ten round decision win against Alejandro Frias, and Hector Valdez also kept his unbeaten record with an eight round points win over Daniel Colula Moncada at super bantamweight.

Azat Hovhannisyan scored a second round stoppage win against Dagoberto Aguero at super bantamweight, and in the battle of the undefeated at featherweight, Katsuma Akitsugi took an eight round win on the cards against Gregory Morales.

Heavyweight prospect Tristan Kalkreuth knocked out Santander Silgado in two rounds, and Santos Ortega did the same in his featherweight affair with Jesus Martinez.