Ryan Garcia Chases Emmanuel Tagoe To A Unanimous Decision
On April 9, former WBC Interim 135-pound champion Ryan “King Ry” Garcia (22-0, 18KOs) made his anticipated return to the ring against Emmanuel Tagoe (32-2, 15KOs) in a twelve-round main event on DAZN.
After picking up the biggest win of his career in stopping former world title challenger Luke Campbell in seven rounds in January 2021, things would only go downhill for Garcia from there. Bouts with “mental illness” and a hand injury forced him into a short layoff which caused fans and even his stable-mates to question his dedication to the sport.
Tagoe lost his professional debut by fifth round stoppage in 2004. Since, he brought a 32-fight win streak into this tussle with Garcia. After notching victories over David Saucedo, Mason Menard, and former WBA Regular lightweight champion Paulus Moses, he hoped a victory over Garcia would propel him into even bigger fights.
THINGS DIDN’T GO AS PLANNED
After a lot of bold proclamations during fight week, Tagoe did more moving than fighting in the opening round. Outside of a few left jabs to the chest,Garcia completely controlled the round. Looking as if they were separated by a couple of weight divisions, the unbeaten contender would come out pressing the action while firing off his fast left hook that got the attention of Tagoe.
Round two was eventful due to the fact that Garcia scored a knockdown on Tagoe via a right uppercut on the inside. The fighter from Ghana would contest the knockdown but it was quite clear to even a blind man that he was hit with a shot before touching the canvas!
BUILDING MOMENTUM
As the fight got into the middle rounds, it was clear that Tagoe wasn’t interested in engaging Garcia. To the young fighter’s credit, he didn’t get upset nor abandon his game plan. He would instead hunt his prey and unload big shots, in particular the left hook to the body.
This fight was pretty much Garcia coming forward, throwing left hooks to the head and body as well as bad-intentioned right hands. Meanwhile, Tagoe simply wouldn’t stand and fight. Ironically, when he did do this, he had some success. Overall, Tagoe simply didn’t come to win this fight but elected to survive.
Garcia could have elected to ease up on the pressure and bait Tagoe into a trap, but he stuck to the same game-plan throughout. This lead for repetitive rounds that saw Garcia stalking and Tagoe retreating which ended up not being an impressive showing.
Nevertheless, Garcia would win a unanimous decision. The scorecards were 119-108 twice and 118-109.
As the third ranked contender with the WBC at lightweight, Garcia keeps himself in position for a shot at the green belt in the near future. Tagoe, who was ranked #8 before his second career loss, will almost certainly drop a few notches as a result of his unimpressive second career loss.
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By: Jerrell Fletcher
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