Ryan Garcia makes a return to the ring after over a year away, and the Los Angeles native meets Emmanuel Tagoe over twelve rounds at lightweight at the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas on Saturday night.
Golden Boy promote, and Garcia vs Tagoe can be seen live on DAZN.
Garcia (21-0, 18 KOs) is one of the hottest prospects in the sport, but the 23-year-old has taken 15 months away in order to focus on his own well-being, and has dropped out of world title contention as a result.
‘King Ry’ has produced some devastating knockouts, and is on a run of five straight early wins since a majority decision victory over Carlos Morales in September 2018.
Since February 2020, the Californian has only fought twice. He spectacularly knocked out Francisco Fonseca inside a round, and his last fight came in January last year, where he was dropped for the first time by Luke Campbell in round two, but he rebounded to halt the Brit in seven.
Garcia was then due to face Javier Fortuna in July for the right to meet Devin Haney for the WBC crown, but he withdrew, and a proposed November date with Joseph Diaz Jr was also scrapped due to a hand injury suffered in training.
The former WBC interim titlist, who split with trainer Eddy Reynoso and moved to Joe Goossen, now turns his attention to former IBO champion, Tagoe (32-1, 15 KOs), and he will hope for a big win to get back in the hunt.
The man from Accra, Ghana was stopped on his debut by Lante Addy, and is unbeaten since, fighting outside his homeland for only the third time this weekend.
The 33-year-old won the IBO crown with a points win over Mzonke Fana in 2016, and made one defence before giving the belt up.
He was last out in November 2020, taking a majority decision win against Mason Menard over ten in Hollywood.
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It’s a tall order for the ‘The Gameboy’ if he is to extend his long winning streak.
Prediction: Garcia will want to put his name straight back into contention, and a statement win here can do just that. I favour him to overwhelm Tagoe, and seal victory within the first half of the contest.
Esparza faces Fujioka in unification
There’s world title action on the undercard, and it’s a unification battle at flyweight, where WBC champion, Marlen Esparza (11-1, 1 KO) should be able to add the WBA crown to her collection with a points win against Naoko Fujioka (19-2-1, 7 KOs).
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Rosado meets Mosley Jr
There’s an interesting crossroads clash at super middleweight, and Gabriel Rosado should still have enough left to take a win on the cards against the son of the legend, Shane Mosley Jr in their scheduled ten round bout.
Rosado (26-14-1, 15 KOs) was defeated by unanimous decision to Jaime Munguia in November, whilst Mosley Jr (17-4, 10 KOs) was edged by Jason Quigley in May.
Teixeira returns
Former world champion, Patrick Teixeira (32-2, 22 KOs) returns from defeat and loss of his title to Brian Castano last time out, and the Brazilian super welterweight can bounce back with a stoppage win over Paul Valenzuela Cuesta (26-11, 17 KOs) in their ten rounder.
Remaining Undercard
George Rincon (12-0, 7 KOs) can remain unbeaten with a stoppage win against Mexico’s Alejandro Frias (13-5-2, 6 KOs) at super lightweight, and at super bantamweight, Azat Hovhannisyan (20-3, 16 KOs) can do the same against Dagoberto Aguero (15-1, 10 KOs).
In the battle of unbeatens at featherweight, Gregory Morales (13-0, 8 KOs) should take care of Katsuma Akitsugi (8-0, 1 KO) inside their eight round distance, and at super bantamweight, Hector Valdez (14-0, 8 KOs) can also keep his unbeaten record intact with a stoppage win over Daniel Colula Moncada (15-5-2, 5 KOs).
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Prospect Tristan Kalkreuth (8-1, 6 KOs) is coming off a loss, but should get back to winning ways with an early win against Santander Silgado (30-11, 24 KOs), who has been halted nine times in 11 defeats, in their six rounder at heavyweight.
