Unbeaten lightweight contender Ryan Garcia (22-0, 19 KOs) won a one-sided 12 round unanimous decision against the slippery Emmanuel Tagoe (32-2, 15 KOs) on Saturday night at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
The crafty 33-year-old Tagoe proved to be a survivor tonight, using movement, holding, and ducking to keep Ryan from knocking him out with his powerful left hook.
Fighting for the first time in 15 months, the highly hyped Golden Boy star Ryan Garcia dropped Tagoe in the second round, and later hurt him in the tenth round.
The scores were 119-108, 119-108, and 118-109. It appeared that Ryan won all 12 rounds of the fight, as Tagoe was cautious to let his hands go enough to be competitive in the fight.
Undercard results:
Super middleweight Shane Mosley Jr. (18-4, 10 KOs) dealt favorite Gabe Rosado (26-15-1, 15 KOs) by a 10 round majority decision in a tactical battle. Mosley, 31, fought cautiously from the outside, not giving the 36-year-old Rosado the opportunities that he needed to win. Interestingly, Mosley hurt Rosado several times in the fight with his sharp, accurate punches.
The scores were 98-92, 97-93 for Mosley, and 95-95. Boxing 247 had it for Mosley 98-92. The San Antonio crowd wasn’t happy with the lack of action, booing the two fighters through the first half of the contest.
On a sad note, Rosado’s loss was his six in his last ten fights, and it’s becoming clear that he doesn’t have it anymore. He’s still a popular fighter, but probably not going to keep getting opportunities if he doesn’t start winning again.
WBC flyweight world champ Marlen Esparza (11-1, 1 KOs) outboxed WBA flyweight titlist Naoka Fujioka (19-2-1, 7 KOs) in winning a 10 round unanimous decision by the scores of 100-90, 97-93, and 100-90.
The fight was really close and could have gone either way. The two 100-90 scores didn’t make much sense, but Esparza was the A-side, so it’s not surprising the judges scored it that way.
Featherweight Azat Hovhannisyan (21-3, 17 KOs) showed off his impressive power tonight, dropping Dagoberto Aguero (15-2, 10 KOs) twice en route to a second-round knockout. Hovhannisyan was in his element, slugging it out against the willing Aguero, who was willing to trade with him despite a lack of power. In the second round, Hovhannisyan knocked Aguero down twice, leading to the fight being stopped at 1:11 of the round.
Former WBO junior middleweight champion Patrick Teixeira (31-3, 22 KOs) surprisingly lost to journeyman Paul Valenzuela (27-11, 17 KOs) by a second-round disqualification for hitting him behind the head. Valenzuela was too hurt to continue fighting, so the referee ruled it a disqualification. Teixeira looked hopping mad at the fight being stopped for this reason.
Featherweight Katsuma Akitsugi (9-0, 1 KOs) was too much for local fighter Gregory Morales (13-1, 8 KOs) in beating him by an eight-round unanimous decision with the scores of 78-74, 78-74, and 80-72. Akitsugi was attacking the entire fight, getting the better of him in the exchanges.
Former cruiserweight Tristan Kalkreuth (9-1, 7 KOs) looked impressive in his heavyweight debut tonight, stopping Santander Silgado (30-12, 24 KOs) by a second-round TKO. The 20-year-old Kalkreuth knocked Salgado down in the second round. At that point, the referee stepped in to stop the fight. Kalkreuth looked noticeably improved from his last fight against Demetrius Banks last June. He was beaten by Banks by a six-round unanimous decision at cruiserweight.
Light welterweight George Rincon (13-0, 7 KOs) took Alejandro Frias (13-6-2, 6 KOs) to school tonight, picking him apart with sharp punches to win a decisive 10 round unanimous decision. The judges’ scores were 96-91, 96-91, and 98-89.
Unbeaten featherweight Santos Ortega (7-0, 3 KOs) jumped on Jesus Martinez (30-16-1, 15 KOs) from the opening bell, tagging him at will with shots. In the second round, the referee decided he’d seen enough of the massacre and halted the fight at 2:15 of the round.
Undefeated super bantamweight Hector Valdez Jr. (15-0, 8 KOs) beat Daniel Moncada (15-6-2, 5 KOs) by a one-sided eight-round unanimous decision. There wasn’t much Moncado could do to keep Valdez Jr off of him, as he didn’t have the power to make this guy respect him in the way that he needed to have a chance of winning. The judges’ scores were 80-71, 79-72, and 78-73.
Ryan Garcia wants to fight three times this year if possible, and one of those fights could be for a world title if he shines against Tagoe
In the co-feature, Gabriel Rosado (26-14-1, 15 KO) fights Shane Mosley Jr (17-4, 10 KO) in a 10 round fight at super middleweight. Both guys need wins to stay relevant after losing their last fights.
Other fights on the card:
Marlen Esparza vs. Naoko Fujioka
Azat Hovhannisyan vs. Dagoberto Aguero
“He’s an easy person to fight for because he’s with you all the time, and he only ate when I ate. During this whole weight cut, he was there every step of the way,” said Ryan Garcia to the DAZN Boxing Show about his new coach Joe Goosen.
“I know who I want, I want a lot of people,” said Ryan about who he wants to fight. “I’m here for a minute [beyond the age 26, a long time. God reminded me, ‘You’re here to fight.’ I’m designed to fight.
“My body is a boxer’s body. I cut weight easy, and whatever I throw is effortless. Why would I stop at 26? That was crazy talk. Sometimes you got to look back at that and think, ‘Why did I say that?’
“I’m honest enough to say that was a mistake to say. Young man talk. I think people can see where I’m at and can feel it because I know how internally at peace I am, and I can say it all day. I know they can see it, and can feel what I’m feeling.
“I’ve had a great camp, this team that I’m building, the people around me, this all feels really good. You just know when something is special and it’s there and you can’t deny that. You’re going to see me for a long time. I’m sorry, you’re going to have to see me for a minute.
“One through three,” said Ryan in predicting when he’s going to knockout Tagoe tonight. “I know it’s going to be a right hand. You think it’s going to be a left, but it’s going to be a right,” said Ryan Garcia.
“I appreciate a guy like that, and I want to do my best for a guy like that. That comes naturally when you’re fighting for a guy that wants to give you his all,” continued Ryan about his coach Goosen.
“No added pressure but I do want to fight hard for him. I want people to understand that I know you got to earn that right. If one day they want to refer to me as ‘King Ry’ like they do King Lebron, but right now I love being called Ryan Garcia. I think it fits good with me.
“I hope one day I’ll be the king of the rest, the best of everyone, and pound-for-pound one day.
“Kambosos is a good fighter and has a lot of talent. He’s riding high right now. He can say what he wants and do what he wants. But really, it’s how we are in the ring and we settle it as a man, we’re going to see who is the emperor and the king.
“He’s riding high and so he should,” Ryan said about Kambosos. “He made a decision and felt that was best for him. I don’t want talk down on him because he’s getting a shot at all the titles, so it can’t be too bad,” said Ryan about Devin Haney agreeing to a rematch clause in the contract for a fight against George Kambosos Jr.
“Fighting there [Australia] twice is going to be held up a lot. That’s a big commitment. He’s got to make 135 twice, and he’s a big guy. Devin is not little. So we’ll see how that affects his future fights. This is not a sprint, it’s a marathon.
“Down the line can you really sustain what you’re chasing. I know that I can to be gradually moving forward. I’m going to be dominating for a lot of years, I can feel it,” said Ryan.
Ryan Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) is predicting a knockout victory over Emmanuel Tagoe (32-1, 15 KOs) within three rounds in their main event fight on DAZN at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
The undefeated #1 WBC lightweight contender Garcia wants to make quick work of the 33-year-old #7 WBC Tagoe to show the boxing world that he’s back and ready to challenge one of the big names after being out of the ring for 15 months.