Ryan Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) will be facing lightweight contender Emmanuel ‘The Gameboy’ Tagoe (32-1, 15 KOs) on April 9th on DAZN at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.
Tagoe isn’t known for his punching power, so Ryan should be okay in this fight as long as he doesn’t leave his chin in the air like he normally does.
This is an interim fight for the 23-year-old Garcia to get him ready to face undisputed lightweight champion George Kambosos Jr., according to Dan Rafael.
Golden Boy Promotions CEO Oscar De La Hoya is negotiating with Kambosos’ promoter Lou DiBella for a Kambosos-Ryan fight later, provided that Ryan defeats Tagoe on April 9th.
Tagoe, 33, is promoted by DiBella, so it’s understandable why Golden Boy is matching Ryan against him rather than one of the other contenders.
Golden Boy is giving DiBella’s fighter Tagoe much-needed visibility with him headlining against the unbeaten Ryan Garcia on DAZN.
In return, Ryan gets a chance to face DiBella fighter Kambosos later this year, as long as he wins against Tagoe. For Ryan Garcia, Golden Boy, and DiBella, it can’t get any better than this.
It’s important that Ryan make take this fight with Tagoe because if he pulls out, he can forget about challenging Kambosos for his titles this year.
This is the perfect opportunity for Ryan to become a four-belt 35-lb champion in 2022 and make a lot of money.
Kambosos is a beatable champion, and with Ryan’s blazing hand speed and powerful left hook, he has an excellent chance of winning.
Ryan hasn’t seen action since his seventh round knockout win over Luke Campbell on January 2nd, 2021. Campbell dropped Ryan in the second round, but failed to go for the finish despite having him hurt.
After that win, Ryan was briefly scheduled to face Javier Fortuna in a WBC title eliminator for July 9th, but he pulled out of the fight due to an anxiety problem.
In late 2021, Ryan suffered a hand injury while training for a fight against Joseph ‘Jojo’ Diaz Jr, making it necessary to back out of that fight as well.
The 33-yer-old Tagoe last fought in November 2020, struggling to defeat Mason Menard by a 10 round majority decision in Hollywood, Florida. It wasn’t an overly impressive performance by Tagoe, but he got the victory.
Ranked #7 WBC, #13 IBF, Tagoe’s other notable wins have come against former two-time super featherweight champion Mzonke Fana in 2016 and former lightweight champion Paulus Moses in 2018.
Both of those former world champions were old and well past their prime at the time Tagoe defeated them.
